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OF    NATIONS 


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THE  HISTORY  OF  NATIONS 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE  ,Ph.D.,LLD.  EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

ITALY 

Including 
Merivale's  Rome  44  B.C. -476  AD 
Edited  by 

J.HIGGINSON  CABOT.PhD. 

Department    of   History 
Wellesley  College 

Volume    IV 


Illustrated 


The  H  .W.  Snow  and  Son  Company 

C  h   i    c    a    £    o 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
JOHN  D.  MORRIS  &  COMPANY 

Copyright,  1910 
THE  H.  W.  SNOW  &  SON  COMPANY 


THE    HISTORY    OF  NATIONS 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE,  PL.D.,  L.L.D. 

Associate  Editors  and  Authors 


ARCHIBALD  HENRY  SAYCE,  LL.D., 

Professor     of     Assyriology,     Oxford     Uni- 
versity 


SIR  ROBERT  K.  DOUGLAS, 

Professor  of  Chinese,  King's  College,  Lon- 
don 


CHRISTOPHER  JOHNSTON,  M.D.,  Ph.D., 

Associate  Professor  of  Oriental  History  and 
Archaeology,  Johns  Hopkins  University 


C.  W.  C.  OMAN,  LL.D., 

Professor  of  History,  Oxford  University 


JEREMIAH  WHIPPLE  JENKS,  Ph.D.,  LL.D., 

Professor  of   Political   Economy  and    Pol- 
itics, Cornell  University 


KANICHI  ASAKAWA,  Ph.D., 

Instructor    in    the    History    of    Japanese 
Civilization,  Yale  University 


THEODOR  MOMMSEN, 

Late   Professor  of   Ancient    History.    Uni- 
versity of  Berlin 


ARTHUR  C.  HOWLAND,  Ph.D., 

Department  of  History,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania 


WILFRED  HAROLD  MUNRO,  Ph.D., 

Professor    of    European    History,     Brown 
University 


G.  MERCER   ADAM, 

Historian  and  Editor 


FRED  MORROW  FLING,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  European  History,  University 
of  Nebraska 


CHARLES  MERIVALE,  LL.D., 

Late   Dean   of   Ely,    formerly    Lecturer   in        FRANCOIS  AUGUSTS  MARIE  MIGNET, 


History,  Cambridge  University 


Late  Member  of  the  French  Academy 


J.  HIGGINSON  CABOT,  Ph.D., 

Department  of    History,  Wellesley   College 


JAMES  WESTFALL  THOMPSON,  Ph.D., 

Department     of     History,     University     of 
Chicago 


SIR  WILLIAM  W.  HUNTER,  F.R.S., 

Late  Director-General  of  Statistics  in  India 


SAMUEL  RAWSON  GARDINER,  LL.D., 

Professor  of   Modern    History,    King's  Col- 
lege, London 


GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  History,  Wesleyan   University 


R.  W.  JOYCE,  LL.D., 

Commissioner   for   the    Publication    of    the 
Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland 


ASSOCIATE  EDITORS  AND   AUTHORS-Continued 


Justin  McCarthy,  ll.d., 

Author  and  Historian 


PAUL  LOUIS  LEGER, 

Professor  of  the  Slav   Languages,   C611ege 
de  France 


AUGUSTUS  HUNT  SHEARER,  Ph.D.. 

Instructor    in     History.     Trinity    College.        WILLIAM  E.  LINSLEBACH,  Ph.D., 

Hartford  Assistant   Professor  of  European   History, 

University  of  Pennsylvania 

W.  HAROLD  CLAFLIN,  B.A., 

Department    of    History.     Harvard    Uni-       BAYARD  TAYLOR, 


versity 


Former  United  States  Minister  to  Germany 


CHARLES  DANDLIKER,  LL.D.. 

President  of  Zurich  University 


SIDNEY  B.  FAY,  Ph.D„ 

Professor  of  History,    Dartmouth   College 


ELBERT  JAY  BENTON,  Ph.D., 

Department  of  History,   Western  Reserve 
University 


SIR  EDWARD  S.  CREASY, 

Late  Professor  of  History,  University  Col- 
lege, London 


ARCHIBALD  CARY  COOLIDGE,  Ph.D., 

Assistant    Professor   of    History,    Harvard 
University 


WILLIAM  RICHARD  MORFILL,  M.A., 

Professor   of   Russian    and    other   Slavonic 
Languages,  Oxford  University 


CHARLES  EDMUND  FRYER,  Ph.D., 

Department  of  History,  McGill  University 

E.  C.  OTTE, 

Specialist  on  Scandinavian  History 


J.  SCOTT  KELTIE,  LL.D., 

President  Royal  Geographical  Society 


ALBERT  GALLOWAY  KELLER,  Ph.D., 

Assistant   Professor  of   the   Science  of  So- 
ciety, Yale  University 


EDWARD  JAMES  PAYNE,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  LTniversity  College,  Oxford 


PHILIP  PATTERSON  WELLS,  Ph.D., 

Lecturer  in   History  and  Librarian  of  the 
Law  School,  Yale  University 


FREDERICK  ALBION  OBER, 

Historian,  Author  and  Traveler 


JAMES  WILFORD  GARNER,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of   Political   Science,   University 
of  Illinois 


EDWARD  S.  CORWIN,  Ph.D., 

Instructor     in     History,     Princeton     Uni- 
versity 


JOHN  BACH  McMASTER,  Litt.D.,  LL.D., 

Professor  of  History,   University  of  Penn- 
sylvania 


JAMES    LAMONT    PERKINS,    Managing  Editor 


The  editors  and  publishers  desire  to  express  their  appreciation  for  valuable 
advice  and  suggestions  received  from  the  following:  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White, 
LL.D.,  Alfred  Thayer  Mahan,  D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  Hon.  Charles  Emory  Smith, 
LL.D.,  Professor  Edward  Gaylord  Bourne,  Ph.D.,  Charles  F.  Thwing, 
LL.D.,  Dr.  Emil  Reich,  William  Elliot  Griffis,  LL.D.,  Professor  John 
Martin  Vincent,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Melvil  Dewey,  LL.D.,  Alston  Ellis,  LL.D., 
Professor  Charles  H.  McCarthy,  Ph.D.,  Professor  Herman  V.  Ames,  Ph.D., 
Professor  Walter  L.  Fleming,  Ph.D.,  Professor  David  Y.  Thomas,  Ph.D., 
Mr.  Otto  Reich  and  Mr.  O.  M.  Dickerson. 


PREFACE 

This  volume  aims  to  provide  for  English-speaking  readers  a  con- 
nected account  of  Italian  history,  convenient  in  form  and  accurate 
in  contents,  covering  the  period  from  44  b.  c.  to  the  present  day. 
The  vast  majority  of  people  have  neither  time  nor  inclination  to 
study  the  many  separate  volumes  dealing  with  parts  of  this  long 
period,  and  yet  would  like  to  have  some  knowledge  of  it.  It  is 
believed  that  this  single  book,  which  contains  the  essence  of  the  best, 
that  has  been  written  on  Italian  history,  will  supply  a  long-felt  want. 
The  editor's  purpose,  then,  is  to  give  a  resume  of  this  history,  based 
on  recognized  authorities  and  diligently  corrected  and  brought  up 
to  date  by  comparison  with  the  latest  and  best  writers.  For  the 
Roman  Empire  Merivale's  "  History  of  Rome  "  has  been  the  founda- 
tion. It  is  unnecessary  to  comment  on  the  value  of  Merivale's 
work,  which  is  everywhere  regarded  as  a  standard.  For  Italian 
history  since  476  a.  d.,  Bosco's  "  Italian  History  "  has  been  the  foun- 
dation. It  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  digests  of  the  very  com- 
plicated history  of  the  peninsula  during  the  centuries  of  disunion 
down  to  the  present  time.  It  has  passed  through  several  Italian 
editions,  being  considered  in  Italy  a  standard  authority.  Yet  being 
a  digest  only,  it  compressed  unduly  the  medieval  period, — which 
is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  in  all  Italian  history, — and  so 
recourse  has  been  made  here  to  the  excellent  chapters  by  Hallam 
on  "  Italy  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  from  his  famous  volume  on  the 
history  of  medieval  Europe.  Throughout,  quotations  from  stand- 
ard authorities  have  been  freely  made,  which  are  acknowledged 
in  foot-notes,  and  will  suggest  to  the  reader  further  sources  than 
those  given  in  the  bibliography.  Finally,  the  chapter  on  the  Renais- 
sance and  the  chapter  on  contemporary  Italy  have  been  written 
specially  for  this  volume.  A  bibliography  is  appended,  and  while 
of  course  making  no  pretense  to  be  anything  but  a  bare  outline,  it 
will  serve  to  show  the  way  to  those  who  wish  to  study  more  in 
detail  the  different  periods. 

Wellesley  College      v-'  i/U 


CONTENTS 

PART    I 
THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     44  B.  C.-476  A.  D. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Death  of  Cesar.     44  b.  c 3 

II.    OCTAVIUS  AND  THE  SECOND  TRIUMVIRATE.      44-42  B.  C.       .         10 

III.  The  Battle  of  Philippi  and  the  New  Division  of 

the  Empire.    42-37  b.  c 17 

IV.  The  Battle  of  Actium  and  End  of  the  Period  of 

Civil  War.     31-30  b.  c 22 

V.  The  Foundation  of  the  Empire  by  Augustus.     29-27 

b.  c 29 

VI.  Condition  of  the  Empire  under  Augustus.    31  b.  c- 

14   A.  D 36 

VII.  The  Reign  of  Tiberius  Cesar.     14-37  A- D-         .        .  46 
VIII.  The  Reigns  of  Caius  Caligula  and  Claudius.     37-54 

a.d 55 

IX.  The  Reign  of  Nero.     54-68  a.  d 62 

X.  Contest  for  the  Empire.     68-69  A-  D-  •         •        .69 

XI.  Affairs  in  the  Roman  Provinces.     62-70  a.  d.    .  75 
XII.  The  Flavian  Emperors — Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Do- 

MITIAN.       70-96    A.  D 8l 

XIII.  Prosperity  of  the  Empire  under  Nerva,  Trajan,  and 

Hadrian.     96-138  a.  d 86 

XIV.  The  Age  of  the  Antonines.     138-180  a.  d.  94 
XV.  Transition  Period  of  Decline.     180-235  a.d.      .         .       99 

XVI.  Advance  of  the  Barbarians.     235-284  a.  d.  .        .     107 

XVII.  The  Reforms  of  Diocletian  and  the  Rise  of  Con- 

STANTINE.      284-323  A.  D 113 

xi 


xii  CONTEN  T  S 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

xviii.  constantine  the  great  and  the  sutremacy  of 

Constantinople.     324-361  a.  d.  121 

XIX.  Progress  of  Christianity.     355-604  a.  d.       .         .  127 

XX.  Gratian  and  Theodosius.     375-408  a.  d.        .  132 

XXI.  The  Sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths.    408-410  a.  d.  140 

XXII.  Farther  Advance  of  the  Barbarians.  423-476  a.  d.  145 


XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 
XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 
XXXVI. 


PART   II 

ITALY  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES.    476-1494 

Odoacer,  First  King  of  Italy,  and  the  Invasion 

of  Theodoric.    476-526 

Fall  of  the  Goths.     526-568         . 

The  Lombards — Gregory  the  Great.    568-744 

Rise   of    the    Temporal    Power    of   the    Popes. 


744- 


The  Foundation  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

962-1152      .... 
Frederick  Barbarossa.     1152-1189 
The  Lombard  Cities.     1200- 1250 
The  Rise  of  Despots.     1250-1354 
Florence  and  Pisa.     1 150-1406 
Genoa  and  Venice.     1200-1426 
The  Condottieri.     1343-1513  . 
Naples  and  Florence.     1282-1494 
The  House  of  Savoy.     1 000- 1466 
The  Italian  Renaissance 


155 

159 
163 

171 

180 

191 
199 
214 
225 
238 

251 

25/ 

272 
279 


PART    III 

MODERN  ITALY.     1494-1906 

XXXVII.  Ludovico   il   Moro   and  the   French    in   Italy. 

1494-1515    .  ....    289 

1513-1521        .        .    296 


XXXVIII.  The  Golden  Age  of  Leo  X. 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXXIX.  The  Struggle  Between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I. 

— The  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis.     15 19-1559  301 

XL.  The  Last  of  Italian  Liberty.     1 560-1618       .        .  309 
XLI.  Charles  Emmanuel  the  Great  and  Some  Men  of 

the  Age.     1580-1700 317 

XLII.  Victor  Amadeus  and  the  Founding  of  the  Italian 

Kingdom.     1630-1748 326 

XLIII.  Celebrated  Men  of  the  Middle  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury.    1750-1800 337 

XLIV.  Italy  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte.     1789-1815    .        .  341 
XLV.  Revolution   in   Italian   States — War  with   Aus- 
tria.    1820-1849 352 

XLVI.  Pope  Pius  IX.  and  the  Roman  Republic.    1848-1859  361 

XLVII.  Growth  of  Italian  Unity.     1849-1861     .        .        .  371 

XLVIII.  The  Question  of  Rome.     1862-1866          .        .        .  386 

XLIX.  Rome  Becomes  the  Capital  of  Italy.     1867-1871  .  391 

L.  Internal  Condition  of  the   Kingdom.     1871-1906  397 

LI.  Literature  and  Art  of  Modern  Italy    .         .        .  407 

Bibliography 417 

Index 423 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Assassination  of  Julius  Cesar  (Photogravure)      .       Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Colossal  Statue  of  Augustus 36 

Destruction  of  the  Roman  Legions  in  the  Teutoburg  Forest  44 

Tiberius  Claudius  Nero  Cesar 50 

The  Death  of  Nero 68 

Roman  Mob  Murders  Vitellius 72 

Emperor  Vespasianus 76 

Destruction  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum   .        .        .        .82 

Emperor  Trajanus 86 

Emperor  Hadrianus 90 

Emperor  Antoninus  Pius 94 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus 98 

Caracalla 102 

Alaric  the  Goth  Enters  Rome 140 

Cathedral  of  Milan 146 

Rienzi  Elected  Tribune 222 

Bravi  Receiving  Reward  from  Council  of  Three         .        .  248 
Machiavelli 


tni  ; 


254 
Benvenuto  Celli 

Assassination  of  Julian  de'  Medici 268 

°ANTE       I             278 

Petrarca  ) 

Savonarola  Preaches  in  Florence 282 

Campanile  and  Dome  at  Florence 284 

Michael  Angelo         ....                  ....  296 

Leonardo  da  Vinci   (Colored) 298 

The  Sack  of  Rome 304 


xvi  LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 

facing  page 
Ariosto  } 

1 ASSO        ) 

Jopin  Milton  Visits  the  Aged  Galileo 322 

Raphael 334 

Cavour      ) 

I 372 

Garibaldi  J 

First  Meeting  between  Victor  Emmanuel  and  Garibaldi     384 

St.  Peter's,  the  Plaza,  and  the  Vatican  of  Rome      .        .    398 


TEXT  MAPS 

PAGE 

Roman  Empire  under  Augustus  and  Tiberius.     31  b.  c-37 

a.  d 54 

Site  of  the  Golden  House  of  Nero 67 

Jerusalem.    70  a.  d 80 

The  Roman  Empire  in  the  Time  of  Diocletian  .        .         .114 
Roman  Empire — Prefectures  of  Constantine  and  Partition 

of  East  and  West 126 

The  Holy  Roman  Empire 189 

Trade  Routes  of  Italian  Cities  of  13TH  and  14TH  Centu- 
ries          237 

Italy  in  the  15TH  Century 266 

Central  Europe  in  the  Early  i6th  Century       .        .         .  294 

Italy  after  the  Congress  of  Vienna 350 

Garibaldi's  Campaign  in  the  Two  Sicilies,     i860        .        .  385 

The  Union  of  Italy 395 


PART  I 

THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.     44  B.  C.-476  A.  D. 


HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Chapter  I 

THE    DEATH    OF    C/ESAR.    44   B.C. 

CESAR'S  victory  at  Pharsalia  in  48  b.  c.  virtually  brought 
the  Roman  Republic  to  an  end,  though  in  so  far  as  an  exact 
date  can  be  given  for  this  event  31  b.  c.  is  more  usually 
chosen.  Caesar  "  seems  to  have  seen  clearly  that  any  government 
which  would  give  order  and  prosperity  to  the  Roman  world  must 
now  be  a  monarchy.  In  this  he  was  quite  right."  1  Hence  he  had 
himself  proclaimed  dictator  for  life  and  retained  the  name  and 
powers  of  the  "  Imperator,"  as  well  as  the  tribunician  power.  It 
may  be  said,  although  with  exceptions,  that  Roman  conquest  ceased 
with  the  Republic.  The  work  of  the  Empire,  in  which  it  was  suc- 
cessful, was  to  transform  the  peoples  of  the  West  into  one  great 
Latin  nation  and  to  improve  Roman  lawrs  and  institutions. 

The  destined  heir  of  Csesar's  imperium  was  already  in  the 
camp  at  Apollonia  taking  lessons  in  arts  and  arms  under  the  ablest 
teachers.  Caius  Octavius,  the  son  of  Caesar's  sister's  daughter, 
now  in  his  nineteenth  year,  though  delicate  in  health,  was  a  youth 
of  high  promise.  Qesar  had  shown  him  much  favor,  had  advanced 
his  family  from  the  plebeian  to  the  patrician  class,  and  had  allowed 
it  to  be  understood  that  he  purposed  to  adopt  his  great-nephew  as 
his  son,  and  to  bequeath  to  him  his  patrimony  and  the  dignities 
wThich  the  Senate  had  declared  hereditary  in  his  family.  The  idea  of 
a  dynasty  and  of  the  hereditary  succession  of  their  rulers  was  unfa- 
miliar to  the  republican  Romans,  but  it  began  now  to  be  whispered, 
both  among  his  friends  and  his  foes,  that  Caesar  would  like  to  be 
hailed  as  king.  Two  or  three  attempts  were  made  to  give  the  peo- 
ple an  opportunity  of  adopting  the  suggestion  spontaneously;  but 
these  were  not  responded  to,  and  Caesar  cautiously  pretended  to 
deprecate  such  an  honor.  At  length,  on  February  15.  the  day  of 
the  Lupercalia,  a  more  determined  effort  was  made  to  get  the 
title  conferred  on  him  by  acclamation.  Caesar  presided  over  the 
festival,  seated  on  his  gilded  chair.  The  consul  Antonius,  who 
1  G.   B.   Adams.   "  European  History,"  p.   96. 


4  ITALY 

44  B.  C. 

was  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the  ceremonies,  approached  the 
dictator  with  a  diadem,  and  offered  it  to  him  as  the  gift  of 
the  Roman  people.  Some  faint  applause  was  heard,  but  when 
Caesar  put  the  tempting  circlet  from  him,  a  loud  burst  of  genuine 
cheering  rent  the  air.  On  the  diadem  being  again  offered, 
Caesar  exclaimed,  "  I  am  not  king;  the  only  king  of  the  Romans 
is  Jupiter,"  and  he  ordered  the  diadem  to  be  suspended  in  the 
Capitol.  "  Few  men  have  had  their  elasticity  so  put  to  the  proof 
as  Caesar — the  sole  creative  genius  produced  by  Rome,  and  the 
last  produced  by  the  ancient  world,  which  accordingly  moved  on 
in  the  path  that  he  had  marked  out  for  it  until  its  sun  went  down."  2 

The  dictator's  prudence  had  baffled  any  attempt  to  excite 
public  feeling  against  him ;  yet  among  many  of  the  nobles  a  bitter 
hostility  was  aroused  by  the  bare  thought  that  any  man  should 
presume  to  lord  it  over  them  as  a  king.  A  plot  was  formed  for 
his  destruction  by  sixty  or  eighty  conspirators,  among  whom 
were  some  who  professed  the  warmest  devotion  to  him.  Decimus 
Brutus  had  received  the  government  of  the  Cisalpine  from  him. 
Trebonius,  Casca,  Cimber,  and  others  had  received  various  marks 
of  his  favor.  C.  Cassius,  who  was  most  likely  the  author  of  the 
plot,  had  recently  been  appointed  praetor.  He  was  a  vain,  vin- 
dictive, jealous  man,  whose  pale  looks  and  acrid  humor  had  not 
escaped  Caesar's  watchful  observation. 

The  conspirators  required  the  charm  of  a  popular  name 
to  sanction  their  projected  tyrannicide.  M.  Junius  Brutus,  the 
nephew  of  Cato,  pretended  to  trace  his  descent  from  a  third  son 
of  that  founder  of  the  Republic  who  had  not  scrupled  to  take  the 
life  of  his  own  two  eldest  sons.  Brutus  probably  represented  an 
honest  desire  to  restore  the  Republic,  despite  the  weakness  of  his 
character.  His  mother  was  of  the  family  of  Ahala,  the  slayer  of 
Spurius  Maelius.  His  wife,  Porcia,  was  the  daughter  of  Cato, 
a  woman  of  masculine  spirit,  firm  and  severe  like  her  father. 
Brutus  himself  was  a  weak,  vain,  unstable  man,  who  affected  the 
character  of  a  philosopher,  yet  clutched  with  sordid,  even  iniqui- 
tous, greed  at  the  emoluments  of  public  life.  Of  all  the  Pom- 
peians,  he  had  been  the  last  to  join,  the  earliest  to  desert,  the 
banner  of  the  Republic.  After  Pharsalia,  he  successfully  courted 
the  favor  of  Caesar,  who  raised  him  to  an  eminence  which  pleased 
and  dazzled  him.  The  weakness  of  his  character  may  be  esti- 
-  Mommsen,  "  History  of  Rome,"  tr.,  vol.  v.  p.  305. 


DEATH     OF     CilSAR  5 

44  B.C. 

mated  from  the  means  employed  to  work  upon  him.  A  paper 
affixed  to  the  statue  of  the  ancient  Brutus  with  the  words, 
"  Would  thou  wert  now  alive ! "  billets  thrust  into  his  hand  in- 
scribed "  Brutus,  thou  sleepest ;  thou  art  no  longer  Brutus," 
shook  the  soul  of  the  philosopher  to  its  center.  Cassius,  who  had 
married  his  sister,  easily  drew  him  into  the  plot,  and  pretended 
to  regard  him  as  its  chief  support  and  contriver.  His  name  struck 
a  chord  of  association  which  insured  a  large  measure  of  popular 
sympathy  whenever  the  deed  should  be  done.  So  long  as  Caesar 
remained  in  the  city,  opportunities  would  not  be  hard  to  find,  for 
he  insisted  upon  going  about  unarmed  and  without  escort,  pro- 
testing that  it  was  better  to  die  at  once  than  to  live  always  in  fear 
of  dying.  But  so  soon  as  he  should  quit  the  city  for  the  camp,  his 
safety  would  be  assured  by  the  fidelity  of  the  soldiers.  It  was  ap- 
prehended, not  without  reason,  that  once  more  at  the  head  of  the 
legions  he  would  not  return  as  a  citizen  to  Rome.  Nay,  it  was 
possible  that  he  might  not  choose  to  return  to  Rome  at  all,  but 
transfer  the  seat  of  empire  to  some  new  site — Ilium,  perhaps, 
or,  if  the  charms  of  Cleopatra  should  retain  their  power,  perhaps 
Alexandria. 

Such  considerations  forbade  delay.  The  imperator's  depar- 
ture was  imminent.  The  Senate  was  convened  for  the  Ides  of 
March,  the  15th  of  the  month,  44  b.  a,  and  it  was  determined 
to  strike  the  blow  at  the  sitting  of  that  day.  Hints  of  impend- 
ing danger  reached  Caesar's  ear;  even  the  inauspicious  day  was 
brought  to  his  notice;  he  would  fain  have  excused  himself  from 
attending  the  assembly.  But  his  fears  were  laughed  away  by 
Decimus,  and  he  went.  As  he  moved  through  the  Forum  to  the 
theater  of  Pompeius  in  the  Campus,  more  than  one  person  tried 
to  warn  him  of  his  danger.  As  he  passed  the  augur  Spurinna,  he 
observed  to  him  pleasantly,  "  The  Ides  of  March  are  come." 
"  Ay,  Caesar,"  replied  the  sage,  "  but  they're  not  gone."  He  en- 
tered the  hall,  his  enemies  closing  around  him,  and  keeping  his 
friends  at  a  distance,  Trebonius  being  specially  charged  to  detain 
Antonius  at  the  door.  On  his  taking  his  seat,  Cimber  approached 
with  a  petition  for  his  brother's  pardon.  The  other  conspirators 
joined  in  the  supplication,  grasping  his  hands  and  embracing  his 
neck.  Caesar  put  them  from  him  gently,  but  Cimber  seized  his 
toga  with  both  hands  and  pulled  it  over  his  arms.  Then  Casca, 
who  was  behind,  drew  his  dagger,  and  grazed  his  shoulder  with 


6  ITALY 

44  B.  C. 

an  ill-directed  stroke.  Caesar  disengaged  one  hand  with  a  cry, 
and  snatched  at  the  hilt.  "  Help!  "  cried  Casca,  and  in  a  moment 
fiftv  daggers  were  aimed  at  the  victim.  Caesar  defended  himself 
for  an  instant,  and  wounded  one  man  with  his  stylus ;  but  when 
he  distinguished  Brutus  in  the  press,  the  steel  flashing  in  his  hand 
also,  "  What !  thou  too,  Brutus !  "  he  exclaimed,  let  go  his  grasp 
of  Casca,  and,  drawing  his  robe  over  his  face,  made  no  further 
resistance.  The  assassins  stabbed  him  through  and  through,  and 
he  fell  dead  at  the  foot  of  Pompeius's  statue.  But  not  by  such 
means  could  the  Republic  be  restored. 

By  the  time  the  deed  was  done  the  conspirators  found  them- 
selves alone  in  the  hall.  Senators,  lictors,  attendants,  all  had  fled. 
Antonius  had  slipped  away  unobserved  to  his  own  house.  Great 
consternation  fell  on  the  citizens,  who  expected  riot  and  massacre 
to  follow ;  for  while  Decimus  had  armed  some  gladiators  for  his 
own  and  his  friends'  defense,  the  city  was  filled  with  Caesar's 
veterans,  and  Lepidus  with  a  legion  was  just  outside  the  walls. 

The  assassins  now  marched  to  the  Forum  to  seek  the  public 
approval  of  their  deed.  They  shouted  that  they  had  slain  a  king 
and  a  tyrant,  but  they  met  with  no  response.  Dismayed  by  this 
cold  reception,  they  took  refuge  with  their  armed  guards  on  the 
Capitol,  and  were  joined  there  during  the  evening  by  Cicero  and 
others  of  the  republican  party.  Next  day  Brutus  descended  into 
the  Forum  and  tried  to  stir  the  populace  by  a  speech.  He  was 
coldly  listened  to,  and  finally  driven  back  to  his  refuge  on  the 
Capitol.  During  the  past  night  Antonius  had  not  been  idle;  he 
had  secretly  obtained  from  Calpurnia,  Caesar's  wife,  the  dead 
man's  will,  and  his  private  treasures.  With  the  help  of  his 
brothers,  he  had  also  appropriated  two  million  sesterces  from  the 
public  treasury.  Provided  with  these  resources,  he  had  made 
overtures  to  Lepidus,  and  received  his  promise  of  support. 

Antonius,  the  minister  and  favorite  companion  of  Caesar, 
was  regarded  by  many  as  his  natural  successor.  Hitherto  known 
chiefly  for  his  bravery  and  dissipation,  he  was  now  about  to  dis- 
play the  arts  of  a  consummate  intriguer.  Pie  opened  a  negotia- 
tion with  the  liberators,  and  with  their  consent,  as  consul,  con- 
vened the  Senate  on  March  1 7  near  the  Forum ;  but  the  murderers 
dared  not  leave  the  Capitol,  and  the  discussion  of  their  deed  was 
carried  on  in  their  absence. 

The  majority  of  the  Senate  would  have   declared  Caesar  a 


DEATH     OF     CESAR  7 

44  B.C. 

tyrant;  but  Antonius  pointed  out  that  this  course  would  have  the 
effect  of  annulling  all  his  acts  and  appointments,  and  thereupon 
those  who  were  interested  in  maintaining  them  resisted  the 
proposal  with  all  their  might. 

At  length,  by  the  advice  of  Cicero,  a  compromise  was  agreed 
to.  No  judgment  was  pronounced  either  upon  Caesar  or  his  mur- 
derers, but  an  amnesty  or  act  of  oblivion  was  decreed,  which  left 
Caesar's  acts  unchallenged,  and  yet  assured  the  safety  of  the  lib- 
erators. The  populace  acquiesced,  and  invited  the  latter  to  de- 
scend from  the  Capitol,  Antonius  and  Lepidus  sending  their 
children  as  hostages.  The  dictator's  assignment  of  the  provinces 
was  then  confirmed.  Trebonius  succeeded  to  Asia,  Cimber  to 
Bithynia,  Decimus  to  the  Cisalpine,  while  Macedonia  was  secured 
to  Brutus,  and  Syria  to  Cassius,  on  the  expiration  of  their  term 
of  office  at  home.  Antonius,  however,  remained  master  of  the 
situation.  If  Caesar  was  not  a  tyrant,  his  will  must  be  accepted, 
and  his  remains  interred  with  public  honors.  Antonius  recited 
the  will  to  the  people,  in  which  Caesar  nominated  Octavius  his 
heir,  and  bequeathed  his  gardens  by  the  Tiber  to  the  Roman 
people,  and  300  sesterces  to  every  citizen.  The  liberality  of  their 
departed  favorite  exasperated  the  rage  of  the  people  against  his 
murderers.  The  funeral  pyre  had  been  built  in  the  Campus 
Martius,  but  the  body  lay  in  state  in  the  Forum  on  a  bier  of  gold 
and  ivory.  At  its  head  hung  the  victim's  toga  hacked  by  the 
assassins'  daggers;  the  twenty-three  wounds  by  which  his  life- 
blood  had  ebbed  away  were  represented  on  a  wax-figure  visible 
to  all.  Antonius,  as  chief  magistrate  of  the  Republic,  now  stepped 
forward  to  recite  the  praises  of  the  mighty  dead.  The  people, 
deeply  moved  by  the  sad  spectacle  before  them,  had  been  further 
excited  by  dramatic  representations  of  the  deaths  of  Agamemnon 
and  Ajax  by  the  treason  of  their  nearest  and  dearest.  Antonius 
read  the  decrees  which  had  heaped  honors  upon  Caesar,  had  de- 
clared his  person  inviolable,  his  authority  supreme,  himself  the 
father  of  his  country.  Then  he  pointed  to  the  bleeding  corpse 
which  neither  laws  nor  oaths  had  shielded  from  outrage,  and 
vowed  that  he  would  avenge  the  victim  whom  he  could  not  save. 
The  people,  in  a  frenzy  of  enthusiasm,  insisted  upon  burning  the 
body  where  it  lay  in  the  midst  of  the  Forum.  Chairs,  tables, 
brushwood,  were  hastily  piled  together  and  the  body  laid  upon 
them.     The  temple  of  Castor  and  Pollux  stood  hard  by,  and  it 


8  ITALY 

44  B.  C. 

was  averred  that  two  majestic  youths,  armed  with  sword  and 
javelin,  were  seen  to  apply  the  torch.  As  the  flame  rose,  the 
veterans  hurled  in  their  arms,  the  matrons  their  ornaments,  even 
the  children's  trinkets  were  devoted.  The  foreigners  present  in 
the  city — Gauls,  Iberians,  Africans,  Orientals — were  not  behind 
the  citizens  in  their  demonstrations  of  reverence  and  grief  for  the 
dead.  The  success  of  Antonius  was  complete.  The  people,  ex- 
cited to  fury,  seized  burning  brands,  and  rushed  to  fire  the  houses 
of  the  conspirators.  These  attempts  were  repulsed,  but  Brutus 
and  his  associates  dared  not  show  themselves  in  public.  Antonius 
now  interfered  to  stop  the  rioting  with  armed  force;  he  also  took 
steps  to  conciliate  the  Senate;  he  passed  a  resolution  abolishing 
the  office  of  dictator;  and  he  proposed  the  recall  of  Sextus,  the 
last  survivor  of  the  Pompeii.  He  at  the  same  time  communicated 
with  the  liberators  Brutus  and  Cassius,  who  were  in  hiding,  and 
offered  them  his  good  offices  and  protection.  In  return  for  all 
this,  he  asked  one  favor — the  right  to  enlist  a  bodyguard  for  his 
own  protection.  The  Senate  weakly  assented ;  and  in  a  short  time 
he  had  6000  men  under  arms. 

The  Senate  had  confirmed  Csesar's  acts,  and  this  sanction 
Antonius  caused  to  be  extended  to  those  which  had  been  merely 
projected.  He  himself  possessed  all  Caesar's  papers,  and,  having 
gained  his  secretary,  Faberius,  could  forge  authority  for  any- 
thing he  chose.  Everything  lay  at  his  feet,  and  things  which 
Caesar  had  not  dared  to  do,  Antonius  did  in  his  name.  By  the 
sale  of  places,  and  even  of  provinces,  he  quickly  amassed  wealth, 
and  proceeded  to  purchase  senators  and  soldiers  and  tributary 
sovereigns — even  his  own  colleague  Dolabella.  Thus  supported, 
he  coolly  reversed  the  dictator's  disposition  of  the  provinces,  de- 
priving Brutus  and  Cassius  of  their  promised  governments,  claim- 
ing Macedonia  for  himself,  and  giving  Syria  to  Dolabella.  "  The 
tyrant  is  dead,"  murmured  Cicero,  "  but  the  tyranny  still  lives." 
This  was  strictly  true,  and  it  might  surely  have  been  foreseen. 
The  crime  of  the  liberators  had  borne  no  fruits,  and  therefore  was 
a  blunder  and  a  folly.  Within  a  week  Antonius  had  set  himself 
up  as  a  second  tyrant  hardly  less  powerful  than  the  first.  But 
another  aspirant  now  enters  upon  the  scene ;  a  third  tyrant,  more 
powerful  than  either  Caesar  or  Antonius,  but  craftier  and  more 
fortunate,  was  about  to  seize  the  sovereignty,  and  establish  the 
Empire  of  Rome.     Caesar  had    been  "  monarch,    but    he    never 


DEATH     OF     C/ESAR  9 

44   B.C. 

played  the  king.  Even  when  absolute  lord  of  Rome,  he  retained 
the  deportment  of  the  party  leader  ...  it  seemed  as  if  he 
wished  to  be  nothing  but  the  first  among  his  peers.  .  .  . 
From  early  youth  .  .  .  Csesar  was  a  statesman  in  the  deep- 
est sense  of  the  term,  and  his  aim  was  the  highest  which  man  is 
allowed  to  propose  to  himself — the  political,  military,  intellectual, 
and  moral  regeneration  of  his  own  deeply  decayed  nation,  and 
of  the  still  more  deeply  decayed  Hellenic  nation  intimately  akin 
to  his  own."  3 

3  Mommsen,  "  History  of  Rome,"  tr.,  vol.  v.  p.  308. 


Chapter   II 

OCTAVIUS  AND  THE  SECOND  TRIUMVIRATE 
44-42  B.  C. 

THE  young-  Octavius,  busy  with  his  martial  exercises 
among  the  legions  at  Apollonia,  was  surprised  by  the 
news  of  Caesar's  assassination.  His  mother's  letters  de- 
termined him  to  return  to  Rome,  and  before  he  started  he  re- 
ceived an  assurance  that  the  legions  would  support  him.  On 
landing  in  Apulia  almost  alone,  he  first  learned  the  contents  of 
Caesar's  will,  his  own  adoption  and  inheritance.  He  at  once 
boldly  assumed  the  name  of  Caius  Julius  Caesar  Octavianus,  and 
presented  himself  to  the  soldiers  at  Brundisium  as  the  adopted 
son  of  the  great  imperator.  He  was  received  with  acclamations ; 
the  friends  of  Caesar  began  to  flock  around  him,  but  the  young 
adventurer  wisely  declined  any  display  of  force.  In  temperate 
language  he  addressed  the  Senate,  claiming,  as  a  private  citizen, 
the  inheritance  of  a  deceased  father.  As  he  passed  through 
Cumae,  he  visited  Cicero,  and  gained  his  favorable  opinion.  At 
the  end  of  April  he  entered  Rome,  and  found  that  Antonius  was 
absent  from  the  city. 

Despite  the  warnings  of  his  mother,  this  youth  of  eighteen 
years  presented  himself  before  the  praetor  and  claimed  Caesar's 
inheritance.  He  harangued  the  people,  and  pledged  himself  to 
discharge  the  sums  bequeathed  to  them  by  his  father. 

Before  the  return  of  Antonius  in  May,  Octavianus  had  made 
many  friends  and  conciliated  many  enemies.  In  a  friendly  tone 
he  reproached  Antonius  for  leaving  the  assassins  unpunished,  and 
demanded  of  him  Caesar's  treasures.  The  consul  replied  that 
none  such  existed;  the  money  left  had  all  been  public  treasure, 
and  was  already  spent.  Octavianus,  undismayed  by  this  failure 
of  resources,  proceeded  to  sell  what  remained  of  Caesar's  prop- 
erty, and  all  his  own,  borrowed  of  his  friends,  and  at  length 
amassed  a  sufficient  sum  to  discharge  the  obligation  he  had  as- 
sumed. The  people  were  delighted  by  this  generous  sacrifice,  and 
Antonius  perceived  with  amazement  that  his  youthful   rival  was 

10 


SECOND     TRIUMVIRATE  11 

44  B.C. 

not  to  be  despised;  but  the  influence  lie  bad  already  gained  with 
the  people  was  too  strong-  to  be  shaken  either  by  craft  or  violence. 

Meanwhile  the  conduct  of  the  liberators  was  timid  and  un- 
certain. Decimus  had  indeed  repaired  to  his  government  in  the 
Cisalpine;  Cassius,  on  receiving  a  pressing  invitation  from  the 
legions  in  Syria,  yielded  to  Cicero's  counsel,  and,  in  defiance  of 
the  decree  which  had  superseded  him  in  favor  of  Dolabella,  set 
out  for  his  province.  Brutus  still  lingered  on  the  coast  of  Cam- 
pania, and,  only  after  long  delay,  nerved  himself  at  last  to  the 
task  of  calling  the  patriots  to  arms  in  Greece  and  Macedonia. 
Cicero  had  actually  embarked  to  join  these  conspirators  in  the 
East,  but  being  driven  ashore  in  Calabria  by  stress  of  weather, 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  quit  the  soil  of  Italy,  and  turned  his 
steps,  with  mournful  presentiments,  toward  Rome.  In  the  West, 
Sextus  Pompeius  had  appeared  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  fleet 
on  the  coast  of  Gaul,  and  encouraged  the  rising  hopes  of  the  re- 
publicans. In  the  city  and  in  the  Senate  Antonius  still  reigned 
supreme  by  force  of  arms,  balanced  only  by  the  growing  authority 
of  Octavianus. 

On  September  i  the  Senate  was  convoked,  and  Caesar's  name 
was  to  be  enrolled  among  the  Roman  divinities.  Antonius  seized 
the  opportunity  to  attack  Cicero,  who  had  returned  to  Rome  the 
day  before,  but  was  not  then  present,  threatening  to  demolish  his 
house  on  the  Palatine.  Next  day,  in  the  absence  of  Antonius, 
Cicero  defended  his  own  conduct  both  in  leaving  the  city  and  in 
returning  to  it;  and  then  turning  to  the  administration  of  An- 
tonius, he  burst  into  an  eloquent  invective.  He  denounced  the 
consul's  arbitrary  exercise  of  power,  his  venality,  his  hypocrisy, 
the  falsehood  by  which  he  had  sheltered  his  own  unlawful  deeds 
behind  the  pretended  authority  of  the  dead  imperator.  The 
Senate  listened  with  admiration,  and  their  applause  warmed  the 
orator  to  renewed  energy. 

In  this,  the  first  of  Cicero's  great  orations  against  Antonius, 
known  as  the  Philippics,  in  allusion  to  the  harangues  of  De- 
mosthenes against  Philip  of  Macedon,  he  confined  himself  to  de- 
nouncing the  policy  of  his  enemy,  and  left  his  personal  habits 
untouched.  A  few  days  later  Antonius  retorted  upon  Cicero  with 
a  violent  tirade  against  the  orator's  entire  career.  All  this  time 
Octavius  was  silently  advancing  his  projects,  and  undermining 
Antonius's   position.     By   promises   and   largesses   he   was   seduc- 


12  I  T  A  L  Y 

44B   C. 

ing  the  soldiers  from  their  allegiance.  On  October  3  the  consul 
hurried  off  to  Brundisium  to  stay  the  defection  of  his  legions, 
which,  he  heard,  had  been  tampered  with.  Octavius  at  the  same 
time  left  the  city  to  visit  his  parent's  colonies  in  Campania, 
Umbria,  and  the  Cisalpine,  among  which  he  collected  10,000 
men.  He  also  made  strenuous  efforts  to  gain  Cicero,  and, 
through  him,  the  Senate,  whose  sanction  he  required  to  give  le- 
gality to  his  enterprise.  He  loaded  the  pliant  statesman  with  com- 
pliments and  caresses,  calling  him  his  father,  and  promising  docility 
and  obedience. 

Antonius,  too,  was  acting  with  energy  and  decision;  by  a 
combination  of  severe  punishments  and  liberal  promises  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reclaiming  some,  at  least,  of  his  wavering  battalions. 
He  then  returned  to  Rome  to  denounce  Octavius  before  the  Senate 
for  levying  troops  without  authority,  but  only  to  find  that  two 
of  his  legions  had  just  passed  over  to  his  rival.  His  position 
was  becoming  untenable.  Sulla,  Marius,  Csesar,  Pompeius,  every 
party  leader,  had  in  turn  abandoned  the  city,  where  the  Senate 
was  paramount,  to  recruit  his  forces  in  the  field.  Antonius  had 
received  from  the  Senate  the  government  of  the  Cisalpine,  and  he 
now  summoned  Decimus  to  withdraw  from  that  province;  but 
the  republican  proconsul  would  only  yield  to  force.  Antonius 
then  raised  his  standard  at  Tibur,  and  marched  to  Ariminum  at 
the  head  of  four  legions;  Lepidus  was  marching  from  Spain  to 
join  him  with  four  more.  Pollio,  with  four  others,  remained  in 
Spain,  and  Plancus,  with  an  equal  number,  was  in  Farther  Gaul. 
These  were  the  forces  on  which  it  was  thought  Antonius  might 
rely  in  his  contest  with  the  republicans,  but  they  were  widely 
scattered.  The  loyalty  of  the  soldiers  was  uncertain,  that  of  their 
commanders  still  more  so.  Octavius  had  by  this  time  collected 
five  legions  under  his  command  at  Arretium,  and  occupied  an  in- 
dependent position,  ready  to  side  with  either  party,  or  to  fall 
upon  the  victor.  Many  citizens  supported  his  pretensions,  and 
the  Senate  itself  accepted  him  as  their  champion. 

Such  was  the  complication  of  affairs  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber. Cicero  meanwhile  was  working  with  feverish  anxiety  to 
unite  all  parties  against  Antonius.  He  exhorted  Decimus;  he 
caressed  Octavius;  he  watched  eagerly  for  the  action  of  Brutus 
and  Cassius,  Trebonius  and  Cimber,  in  the  East.  In  the  West, 
he  trusted  mainly  to  the  loyalty  of  Hirtius  and  Pansa,  the  consuls- 


SECOND     TRIUMVIRATE  13 

44-43  B.  C. 

elect.  The  moment  had  arrived  for  the  publication  of  the  second 
Philippic,  already  polished  in  private  to  the  keenest  edge  of  satire. 
It  branded  Caesar  as  a  traitor  and  a  tyrant,  Antonius  as  a  monster. 
It  directed  the  eyes  of  all  to  Cicero  himself  as  the  mainstay  of  the 
commonwealth,  and  called  on  every  citizen  to  arm.  The  effect 
was  electrical.  Both  people  and  Senate  repudiated  and  defied  the 
iniquitous  usurper.  The  consuls-elect  were  confirmed  in  their 
loyalty  to  the  Republic  by  the  outburst  of  public  feeling. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  Antonius  had  confined  Decimus 
within  the  walls  of  Mutina.  The  Senate  urged  Octavius  to  attack 
him ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  the  year  43  b.  c.  that  he  took  the 
field,  in  conjunction  with  Hirtius  and  Pansa,  the  consuls. 

During  their  absence  from  the  city,  Cicero,  though  without 
an  office,  was  allowed  to  take  the  helm  of  affairs.  His  eloquent 
harangues  inspired  all  men  with  confidence  and  devotion.  He 
filled  the  treasury  with  voluntary  contributions  from  the  loyal 
and  fines  levied  on  the  disaffected.  He  maintained  an  active  cor- 
respondence with  the  chiefs  in  the  provinces,  assuring  each  in 
turn  of  the  constancy  of  all  the  others,  and  encouraging  them 
with  glowing  accounts  of  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  party. 

Antonius  was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  of  Mutina  by  the 
advance  of  Hirtius  and  Octavius.  While  pretending  to  negotiate 
with  them,  he  suddenly  turned  upon  Pansa,  who  was  on  his  way 
to  join  them,  defeated,  and  mortally  wounded  him.  Hirtius  saved 
the  beaten  force  from  utter  rout,  and  a  few  days  later,  in  con- 
junction with  Octavius,  inflicted  a  defeat  on  the  Antonians. 
Hirtius  lost  his  life  in  this  engagement,  and  thus  both  consuls 
were  stricken  down.  The  Senate  and  people  at  Rome,  overjoyed 
by  the  victory,  carried  Cicero  in  triumph  to  the  Capitol,  and  sa- 
luted him  as  the  true  victor  of  Mutina.  The  contest  seemed  to 
be  at  an  end.  Decimus  was  pursuing  Antonius;  Plancus  was  ad- 
vancing to  block  the  passes  into  Gaul ;  Brutus  and  Cassius  in  the 
East,  and  Sextus  on  the  sea,  all  sent  tidings  of  success. 

Before  he  expired  the  consul  Pansa  warned  Octavius  that 
the  Senate  meditated  treachery  toward  him,  and  advised  him  to  be 
reconciled  with  Antonius.  The  crafty  young  schemer  had  al- 
ready determined  on  that  course.  He  quarreled  with  Decimus  as 
the  murderer  of  his  father,  Caesar.  He  let  Antonius  know  that 
he  had  no  wish  to  crush  him,  and  stood  aside  to  allow  him 
to   effect   a  junction   with   Lepidus   in    the  Transalpine.     Plancus 


14,  ITALY 

43  B.  C. 

terminated  his  long  indecision  by  casting  in  his  lot  with  the 
stronger  party,  and  thus  Antonius  found  himself  at  the  head  of 
twenty-three  legions. 

This  was  the  dreadful  reality  to  which  the  Senate  now  awoke 
from  their  dream  of  easy  victory.  They  had  thought  to  use  Octa- 
vius  as  their  tool,  and  then  to  cast  him  aside.  He  had  asked  for 
and  been  refused  the  consulship.  He  now  crossed  the  Rubicon 
at  the  head  of  eight  legions,  and  marched  on  Rome  to  seize  the 
prize  by  force.  Some  feeble  attempts  at  defense  were  made,  but 
one  after  another  the  senators  and  consulars  slipped  through  the 
gates  and  went  over  to  the  intruder's  camp.  Cicero,  alarmed  for 
his  safety,  made  his  escape.  On  September  22  the  people  pre- 
tended to  elect  Octavius  to  the  consulship,  with  his  kinsman 
Pedius  for  colleague.  Next  day  the  audacious  stripling  com- 
pleted his  twentieth  year.  The  first  act  of  the  new  consul  was  to 
summon  the  murderers  of  Caesar  before  his  tribunal.  Judgment 
passed  against  them  by  default,  and  they  were  interdicted  fire  and 
water. 

Octavius  was  now  in  a  position  to  make  terms  with  Antonius 
on  a  footing  of  equality.  Placed  between  two  such  powers,  and 
deserted  by  Plancus,  Decimus  was  lost.  His  troops  deserted  from 
him  wholesale.  He  tried  to  escape  into  Macedonia,  but  was  cap- 
tured and  put  to  death  by  Antonius.  The  blood  of  the  assas- 
sin cemented  the  union  between  the  Caesarian  leaders.  Toward 
the  end  of  October  Antonius,  Lepidus,  and  Octavius  met  near 
Bononia  to  share  their  conquests  between  them.  It  was  agreed, 
after  three  weeks'  parley,  that  Octavius  should  resign  the  office  of 
consul,  while,  under  the  title  of  a  triumvirate  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  commonwealth,  the  three  chiefs  should  reign  together 
over  the  city,  the  consuls,  and  the  laws.  They  claimed  absolute 
authority  irrespective  of  Senate  or  people,  together  with  the  power 
of  appointing  to  all  the  magistracies.  The  provinces  were  parti- 
tioned as  follows:  Italy  was  to  be  held  in  common  by  all  three; 
the  two  Gauls  fell  to  Antonius ;  Africa  and  the  islands  fell  to  Oc- 
tavius. These  two,  with  twenty  legions  each,  were  to  carry  on 
the  war,  while  Lepidus,  with  Spain  and  the  Xarbonensis  for  his 
province,  was  to  control  the  Empire  from  Rome  in  the  interest  of 
all  three.  The  troops  were  satisfied  with  the  promise  of  largesses 
and  estates,  and  insisted  that  Octavius  should  espouse  a  daughter 
of  Fulvia,  wife  of  Antonius,  as  a  ratification  of  the  compact. 


SECOND     TRIUMVIRATE  15 

43-42  B.  C. 

The  triumvirs  now  sent  an  order  to  Pedius  to  slay  seventeen 
of  their  principal  adversaries.  The  order  was  promptly  executed, 
but  Pedius  died  from  horror  and  disgust  at  being  made  the  instru- 
ment of  such  a  slaughter.  The  triumvirs  then  marched  into  the 
city,  and  occupied  the  temples  and  towers,  with  their  troops  un- 
der arms.  On  November  27  the  triumvirate  was  proclaimed. 
Before  quitting  Rome  to  combat  the  murderers  of  Csesar  in  the 
East,  the  triumvirs  determined  to  leave  no  enemies  behind  them. 
A  formal  but  limited  proscription  was  decreed.  Each  picked  out 
the  names  of  the  victims  he  personally  required,  and  each  pur- 
chased the  right  to  proscribe  a  kinsman  of  his  colleagues  by  sur- 
rendering one  of  his  own.  The  list  was  headed  with  the  names 
of  a  brother  of  Lepidus,  an  uncle  of  Antonius,  and  a  cousin  of 
Octavius.  Centurions  and  soldiers  were  sent  in  quest  of  the 
doomed  men,  and  a  good  many  probably  perished  without  war- 
rant. The  heads  of  the  proscribed  were  affixed  to  the  rostra,  but 
the  triumvirs  did  not  always  pause  to  identify  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  proscribed  escaped ;  some  to 
Macedonia,  some  to  the  fleet  of  Sextus  Pompeius.  Cicero  him- 
self was  not  overtaken  till  a  month  later.  On  the  first  news  of  the 
proscription,  Cicero  took  refuge  with  his  brother  in  an  island  near 
Antium,  and  even  made  good  his  escape  to  sea ;  but  instead  of 
proceeding  in  all  haste  to  Macedonia,  he  twice  disembarked,  and 
at  length  retired  to  his  villa  near  Formias.  The  danger  of  delay 
was  imminent;  his  slaves  placed  him  in  a  litter,  and  hurried  him 
toward  the  shore ;  but  the  opportunity  had  been  lost.  He  was 
pursued  and  overtaken  by  the  assassins.  Cicero's  party  were  the 
more  numerous,  and  would  have  drawn  in  his  defense,  but  he  for- 
bade them.  The  litter  was  set  down,  and,  fixing  his  eyes  upon 
his  murderers,  Cicero  offered  his  outstretched  neck  to  the  sword. 
The  head  was  severed  from  the  body  and  carried  to  Rome,  where 
Antonius  set  it  up  with  exultation  in  front  of  the  rostra.  Fulvia, 
it  is  said,  pierced  the  tongue  with  her  needle,  in  revenge  for  the 
sarcasms  it  had  uttered  against  both  her  husbands. 

Amid  such  scenes  of  horror  the  year  came  to  a  close.  On 
January  1,  42  b.  c,  Lepidus  and  Plancus  became  consuls.  In  spite  of 
the  general  mourning  and  dismay,  they  insisted  on  celebrating 
the  commencement  of  their  reign  with  public  festivities.  Both 
of  them  claimed  and  held  a  triumph  for  victories  unknown  to 
history.     "  The  consuls  triumph,"'  said  the  soldiers,  "  not  over  the 


16  ITALY 

42   B.   C. 

Gauls,  but  over  the  Germans !  "  Each  of  them  had,  in  fact,  sacri- 
ficed a  brother  in  the  proscriptions.  The  massacres  had  now 
ended,  but  funds  were  needed,  and  a  period  of  confiscation,  forced 
loans,  and  heavy  requisitions  ensued. 

The  citizens  were  made  to  swear  obedience  to  all  Caesar's 
laws,  and  to  accord  him  divine  honors.  Octavius  undertook  to 
drive  Sextus  out  of  Sicily,  but  found  the  straits  too  strongly 
guarded  by  his  piratical  fleet.  Antonius  crossed  without  delay  to 
the  coast  of  Epirus. 


Chapter   III 

THE   BATTLE    OF    PHILIPPI   AND   THE    NEW   DIVISION 
OF   THE    EMPIRE.     42-37    B.C. 

THE  Greeks  took  little  interest  in  the  political  struggles  of 
their  Roman  masters,  though  they  had  a  traditional 
preference  for  republican  forms.  Athens,  the  capital, 
the  headquarters  of  philosophy,  was  a  sort  of  university,  fre- 
quented by  aspiring  youths  of  every  nation.  Among  these  was 
the  genial  satirist  known  to  us  as  the  poet  Horace. 

Brutus,  the  philosopher,  on  presenting  himself  at  Athens  and 
claiming  the  government  of  the  province,  met  with  a  hearty  re- 
ception and  ready  support.  The  Pompeian  veterans,  scattered 
through  the  country  since  Pharsalia,  flocked  about  him;  the 
arsenals,  the  revenues,  the  forces  of  the  province  were  placed  at 
his  disposal;  and  in  the  army  which  he  proceeded  to  organize 
many  of  the  Roman  students  at  Athens  received  commissions: 
among  them  the  young  poet  Horace  was  made  a  tribune.  The 
neighboring  kings  and  rulers  sided  with  the  new  governor,  who 
soon  overpowered  the  partisans  of  the  triumvirs. 

Cassius,  who,  since  the  Parthian  campaign  of  Crassus,  en- 
joyed a  high  reputation  in  the  East,  had  established  himself  with 
equal  success  in  his  province  of  Syria.  It  seems  strange  that 
these  two  republican  leaders,  with  ample  forces  at  their  disposal, 
made  no  effort  to  resist  the  usurpation  of  the  triumvirs  in  Italy. 
Probably  both  of  them  were  very  much  in  the  hands  of  their 
soldiery,  who  preferred  marauding  expeditions  against  weak  and 
wealthy  enemies,  such  as  Rhodians  and  Lycians,  to  severe  fight- 
ing against  well-trained  legions  as  poor  as  themselves.  Both 
Brutus  and  Cassius  did,  in  fact,  devote  themselves  mainly  to 
extracting  booty  from  the  regions  subject  to  their  sway. 

Laden  with  the  plunder  of  Asia,  the  armies  were  about  to 
pass  over  into  Macedonia.  It  is  related  that  Brutus,  while  watch- 
ing in  his  tent  one  night,  beheld  standing  before  him  a  terrible 

17 


18  I  T  A  L  Y 

42   B.  C. 

phantom,  which,  on  being  questioned,  replied,  "  I  am  thy  evil 
demon ;  thou  shalt  see  me  again  at  Philippi."  The  Epicurean 
Cassius  made  light  of  the  apparition.  With  30,000  foot  and 
20,000  horse,  well-appointed  troops,  he  had  no  misgivings.  The 
triumvirs  meanwhile  were  advancing  across  Macedonia  with  a 
still  more  numerous  host,  but  owing  to  their  weakness  at  sea  they 
were  but  ill  supplied.  The  two  armies  came  face  to  face  about 
twelve  miles  east  of  Philippi,  in  42  b.  c.  Antonius  was  opposed  to 
Cassius  next  the  sea ;  Octavius  fronted  Brutus  more  inland. 
Cassius,  aware  of  his  enemy's  shortness  of  supplies,  tried  to  re- 
strain the  impatience  of  his  colleague,  but  in  vain.  On  the  day 
of  battle  Octavius  was  ill ;  his  division  was  overthrown  by  that 
of  Brutus,  and  he  was  carried  off  in  the  midst  of  his  retreating 
army.  But  Antonius  had  inflicted  an  equal  defeat  on  Cassius, 
and  the  latter,  ignorant  of  his  colleague's  success,  thought  the  cause 
lost,  and  slew  himself  in  despair. 

The  effect  of  this  fatal  deed  was  disastrous.  Cassius,  accus- 
tomed to  command,  had  exercised  some  control  over  the  soldiers; 
but  the  mild  student  who  survived  was  powerless  to  do  so.  De- 
spite his  lavish  largesses  and  easy  discipline,  numbers  of  them 
deserted  his  standards.  Still,  the  army  of  the  triumvirs,  strait- 
ened for  provisions,  was  in  little  better  condition,  and  could  Bru- 
tus have  refrained  from  fighting,  he  might  have  won  a  blood- 
less victory.  Instead,  he  renewed  the  battle  of  Philippi,  after  an 
interval  of  twenty  days,  on  the  same  ground.  This  time  the 
Coesarians  broke  the  ranks  of  their  opponents  and  assailed  them 
in  their  camp.  Next  day  Brutus  found  that  his  reserve  of  four 
legions  refused  to  fight,  and  he  had  no  recourse  but  to  follow  the 
example  of  Cassius  and  commit  suicide. 

Antonius  and  Octavius  were  now  completely  successful,  and 
many  important  opponents  of  their  policy  fell  into  their  hands, 
on  whom  they  did  not  scruple  to  wreak  a  cruel  vengeance.  Octa- 
vius in  particular  is  said  to  have  shown  himself  most  implacable 
on  this  occasion.  Some  portion  of  the  beaten  army  escaped  with 
the  fleet  to  reinforce  the  armament  of  Sextus  Pompeius. 

The  victors  now  made  a  fresh  partition  of  the  Empire,  Octa- 
vius taking  Spain  and  Numidia ;  Antonius,  Gaul  beyond  the  Alps 
and  Illyricum.  The  Cisalpine  was  for  the  first  time  combined 
with  Italy  itself,  and  the  whole  peninsula  they  held  in  common. 
Lepidus  was  contemptuously  excluded  from  all  share  of  the  Em- 


DIVISION     OF     EMPIRE  19 

42-41  B.  C. 

pire,  but  was  afterward  allowed  to  take  the  small  province  of 
Africa. 

Octavius,  still  suffering-  in  health,  returned  to  Italy.  An- 
tonius  remained  in  the  East,  where  his  own  licentious  nature 
was  encouraged  by  the  dissolute  habits  of  the  people.  For- 
getting- the  claims  of  his  soldiers,  he  lavished  his  wealth  upon 
himself  and  his  parasites.  Coarse  and  easy-tempered,  he  loved 
flattery  if  seasoned  with  wit.  He  had  seen  and  admired  Cleopatra 
in  Caesar's  train,  and,  having  reached  Cilicia,  he  summoned  her  to 
appear  before  him  to  answer  for  having  sided  with  Cassius  in  the 
recent  contest.  Cleopatra,  confident  in  her  ready  wit  and  per- 
sonal charms,  sailed  up  the  Cydnus  to  Tarsus  in  a  gilded  vessel, 
with  purple  sails  and  silver  oars,  to  the  sound  of  flutes  and  pipes. 
She  assumed  the  character  of  Venus,  and  Antonius  that  of 
Bacchus.  The  two  divinities  held  their  gorgeous  revels  on  board, 
and  it  was  an  easy  matter  for  the  wily  Egyptian  to  gain  the  mas- 
tery over  the  rude  soldier.  Antonius  cast  away  all  thought  of 
domestic  claims  and  schemes  of  empire,  and  retired  with  her  to 
Alexandria,  to  lose  the  world  in  her  arms. 

Early  in  the  year  41  b.  c.  Octavius  arrived  in  Italy  charged 
with  the  invidious  task  of  settling  the  Cesarean  veterans  on  the 
lands  of  the  native  proprietors.  Fulvia,  daring  and  ambitious, 
was  virtually  ruling  the  state  through  her  influence  over  the  con- 
suls. She  resented  the  appearance  of  Octavius  on  the  scene,  and, 
hoping  to  win  back  her  husband  from  his  Egyptian  charmer  by 
stirring  up  troubles  in  Italy,  she  encouraged  the  Italians  to  resist 
the  assignment  of  their  lands  to  the  veterans.  A  short  civil  war 
ensued ;  but  Agrippa,  the  best  friend  and  ablest  officer  of  Octa- 
vius, shut  up  the  malcontents  in  Perusia,  and  reduced  them  to 
capitulate  by  stress  of  famine. 

The  news  of  Octavius's  growing  ascendency  in  Italy,  to- 
gether with  an  attack  of  the  Parthians  on  Syria,  at  length  roused 
Antonius  from  his  dream  of  pleasure.  Dispatching  his  lieutenant 
Ventidius  to  repel  the  Parthians,  he  started  himself  for  Italy  with 
some  legions  and  a  powerful  fleet.  At  Athens  he  met  his  wife 
Fulvia,  who  upbraided  him  for  his  desertion  of  her :  but  he  re- 
torted bitterly  upon  her,  and  she  soon  after  died  broken-hearted. 
Passing  thence  to  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  he  made  a  compact 
with  Sextus  Pompeius,  who  transported  him  across  the  straits, 
and  together  they  proceeded  to  plunder  the  southeastern  coasts  of 


20  ITALY 

41-40  B.C. 

Italy.  Sextus  had  been  so  long  an  exile  from  Rome  that  he  was 
looked  upon  as  no  better  than  a  foreigner  or  barbarian;  and  the 
man  who  in  company  with  such  an  ally  assailed  the  sacred  soil  of 
Italy  was  justly  regarded  as  an  invader.  When,  therefore,  Octa- 
vius  drew  the  sword  to  resist  his  advance,  the  people  hailed  him 
as  the  champion  of  their  hearths  and  their  gods.  For  the  mo- 
ment, however,  the  soldiers  were  stronger  than  the  people.  They 
compelled  their  chiefs  to  treat,  and,  with  the  help  of  Cocceius 
Nerva,  Pollio,  and  Maecenas,  a  new  partition  was  arranged.  An- 
tonius  received  the  whole  eastern  half  of  the  Empire  from  the 
Adriatic  to  the  Euphrates.  Octavius  took  the  entire  west,  and 
Africa  was  abandoned  to  Lepidus.  The  peace  was  cemented  by 
the  marriage  of  Antonius,  now  a  widower,  with  Octavia,  the 
sister  of  the  young  Csesar;  and  the  rivals,  outwardly  reconciled, 
hastened  to  Rome  to  celebrate  their  alliance  with  games  and 
festivities. 

Octavius,  to  whom  the  government  of  Rome  now  fell  by 
right,  controlled  the  mutinous  disposition  of  the  soldiers,  and 
tranquilized  the  people  by  regular  distributions  of  grain.  He  had 
already  repudiated  Claudia,  the  daughter  of  Fulvia,  whom  he 
married  to  satisfy  the  soldiers,  and  he  now  wedded  Scribonia,  a 
relative  of  Sextus  Pompeius.  This  led  to  a  reconciliation  with 
the  wild  sea-rover.  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Corsica  were  assigned 
to  him  as  his  share  of  the  Empire ;  and  he  was  charged  to  clear 
the  sea  of  pirates,  as  his  father  had  done.  The  three  chiefs  ban- 
queted together,  not  on  land,  where  the  imperators  might  be  too 
powerful,  nor  at  sea,  where  the  pirate  chief  could  make  himself 
master  of  his  guests,  but  on  board  a  vessel  moored  within  the 
harbor.  Maenas,  an  officer  of  Sextus,  proposed  to  cut  the  cable 
and  carry  them  out  to  sea ;  but  Sextus  forbade  it,  muttering  that 
Msenas  should  have  done  the  deed,  but  not  have  asked  leave  to 
do  it.  Sextus  still  cherished  some  hopes  of  empire,  and  alone 
among  the  Romans  based  his  hopes  on  maritime  ascendency. 
Surrounded  by  foreign  adventurers,  he  had  forgotten  the  habits 
— even,  it  is  said,  the  speech — of  a  Roman.  He  affected  to  be  the 
son  of  Neptune,  and  pretended  to  the  honors  of  a  demi-god. 

The  ill-assorted  alliance  did  not  long  continue.  Octavius 
repudiated  Scribonia,  in  order  to  espouse  Livia,  whom  he  forced 
from  her  husband,  Tiberius  Nero.  Sextus  was  the  first  to  arm, 
und  Antonius,  at  the  instance    of    his    consort    Octavia.    assisted 


DIVISION     OF     EMPIRE  21 

40-36  B.  C. 

Octavius  against  him  with  a  fleet  of  130  galleys,  in  return  for 
which  he  demanded  20,000  legionaries  for  the  war  he  was  pre- 
paring against  Parthia. 

Antonius  then  rejoined  Cleopatra  in  the  East,  sending  his 
wife  home  to  her  brother's  care.  Msenas  proved  a  traitor  to  his 
own  master,  and  with  his  aid  Octavius  soon  recovered  Sardinia 
and  Corsica;  but  his  attempts  at  naval  warfare  were  unsuccessful 
till  the  command  was  taken  by  the  valiant  and  prudent  Agrippa. 

On  January  1,  37  b.  c,  M.  Vipsanius  Agrippa  became  consul, 
and  set  himself  to  the  task  of  wresting  the  command  of  the  sea  from 
Sextus,  and  in  the  ensuing  spring  he  attacked  Sicily  at  its  three 
salient  angles.  Octavius  in  person  conducted  the  assault  on 
Messana,  but  was  more  than  once  repulsed ;  Lepidus  gave  but 
little  assistance.  At  last  Agrippa  completely  defeated  Sextus  in 
the  great  sea-fight  at  Naulochus,  and  the  latter  collected  his  treas- 
ures and  abandoned  Sicily  for  the  East.  Antonius,  however, 
would  not  receive  him,  but  finally  crushed  him  in  another  great 
naval  battle.  Lepidus,  who  had  landed  in  Sicily,  demanded  this 
island  for  himself  and  there  ventured  to  match  himself  against 
Octavius,  but  was  quickly  overcome.  Octavius  spared  his  life, 
and  this  most  feeble  scion  of  the  great  /Emilian  house  lingered 
on  through  more  than  twenty  years  of  retirement  at  Circeii. 


Chapter    IV 

THE  BATTLE   OF  ACTIUM   AND   END   OF  THE   PERIOD 
OF   CIVIL   WAR.     31-30   B.C. 

ON  the  deposition  of  Lepidus,  his  conqueror  commanded 
not  less  than  45  legions,  25,000  horsemen,  and  37,000 
light  troops,  besides  a  fleet  of  more  than  500  galleys. 
But  he  had  now  to  reckon  with  his  own  victorious  soldiers,  who 
demanded  large  rewards  in  lands  and  money.  To  satisfy  these 
claims,  Octavius  imposed  severe  exactions,  especially  on  Sicily. 
On  his  return  to  Rome,  the  people,  rejoicing  in  the  abundance  of 
corn  which  had  followed  on  the  clearance  of  the  seas,  received 
him  triumphantly.  The  Senate  would  have  heaped  honors  upon 
him,  but  he  accepted  only  the  tribunician  inviolability,  an  ovation, 
and  a  golden  statue.  He  declined  to  take  from  Lepidus  the  office 
of  Pontifex  Maximus. 

Deeply  impressed  by  the  fate  of  Caesar,  Octavius  was  very 
watchful  over  the  safety  of  his  own  life.  Though  in  reality  en- 
gaged upon  the  enterprise  of  raising  himself  above  the  laws,  he 
took  no  step,  however  daring,  without  trying  to  secure  for  it  the 
semblance  of  legality.  Before  reentering  the  city,  he  rendered 
an  account  of  all  his  acts  to  the  people,  excused  his  proscriptions 
by  the  plea  of  stern  necessity,  and  promised  clemency  for  the 
future.  He  proceeded  to  restore  their  ancient  prerogatives  to  the 
magistracies;  and  the  wise  administration  of  Maecenas  reconciled 
many  enmities.  Life  and  property  were  secured  by  the  institu- 
tion of  a  cohort  of  city  guards.  An  active  police  scoured  the 
whole  peninsula,  rooting  out  the  bands  of  robbers,  releasing  many 
kidnaped  freemen  from  the  factories  of  the  great  proprietors, 
and  restoring  to  their  masters,  or  putting  to  death,  multitudes  of 
fugitive  slaves  who  were  at  large. 

About  midsummer  of  the  year  36  b.  c.  Antonius  had  assembled 
100,000  men  on  the  Euphrates  to  complete  the  conquest  of  the 
Parthians.  Cleopatra  joined  him  on  his  way,  but  he  sent  her 
back  to  Egypt,  promising  soon  to  return  to  her  there.    The  season 

22 


END     OF     CIVIL     WAR  23 

S6-33  B.C. 

was  now  so  far  advanced  that  he  had  to  march  in  great  haste,  and 
on  reaching  Praaspa,  three  hundred  miles  beyond  the  Tigris,  he 
found  that  the  engines  needed  for  a  siege  had  fallen  far  into  the 
rear.  He  tried  to  reduce  the  city  by  blockade,  but  found  his  own 
supplies  cut  off  by  the  Parthian  horsemen,  and  was  soon  obliged 
to  beat  a  hasty  retreat.  The  severe  winter  of  that  elevated  region 
was  imminent,  and  his  legions  suffered  intense  hardships  during 
a  march  of  twenty-seven  days.  Antonius  hurried  his  weary 
soldiers,  with  great  loss  and  suffering,  back  to  Syria,  where 
Cleopatra  met  him,  and  with  her  he  returned  unabashed  to  Alex- 
andria. The  imperator  chose  to  represent  this  shameful  retreat 
as  a  victory,  and  Octavius  humored  his  conceit,  and  so  maintained 
a  cordial  understanding  with  him.  In  the  following  year  he  made 
an  inroad  into  Armenia,  carried  off  King  Artavasdes  in  gilded 
chains  to  Alexandria,  and,  to  the  disgust  of  all  Roman  citizens, 
celebrated  a  triumph  in  the  streets  of  his  foreign  capital. 

The  Egyptian  court  now  plunged  into  the  grossest  debauch- 
ery, the  queen  leading  the  way,  and  contriving  a  succession  of 
new  pleasures  for  the  Roman  voluptuary.  If  she  would  retain 
her  seat  upon  the  throne  of  the  Ptolemies,  she  must  keep  her  lover 
constantly  amused.  ,  If  she  could  succeed  in  converting  him  into 
an  Oriental  despot,  she  might  yet  hope  to  rule  supreme  upon  the 
Capitol.  All  her  talents,  which  were  of  the  most  varied  kind, 
were  called  into  requisition,  as  well  as  the  lighter  artifices  of  her 
sex.  Painters  and  sculptors  grouped  the  illustrious  pair  together, 
and  the  coins  of  the  kingdom  bore  the  effigies  and  titles  of  both. 
Masques  and  revels  followed  in  quick  succession,  and  the  princely 
lovers  assumed  the  characters  of  Isis  and  Osiris. 

The  rumors  of  these  orgies  caused  much  resentment  at 
Rome,  where  Octavius  was  advancing  in  popularity,  and  begin- 
ning to  fill  the  space  in  the  public  eye  left  vacant  by  Caesar's  death. 
His  manners  were  affable,  his  concern  for  the  public  weal  un- 
wearied. After  the  reduction  of  Sicily,  he  had  established  a  mild 
but  firm  government  at  Rome.  He  had  then  encountered  with 
success  some  of  the  rudest  tribes  among  the  Alpine  passes,  in  Dal- 
matia,  Ulyria,  and  the  remote  Pannonia.  At  the  end  of  three 
campaigns,  in  one  of  which  he  obtained  the  distinction  of  an  hon- 
orable wound,  the  Senate  decreed  him  a  triumph,  but  he  deferred 
its  celebration.  Already  at  the  beginning  of  33  b.  c.  the  rivals  had 
entered   upon   angry   recriminations,    Antonius   objecting   that   he 


24  I  T  A  L  Y 

33-32  B.  C. 

had  not  received  his  share  of  troops  and  provinces  on  the  depriva- 
tion of  Lepidus,  at  which  time  Octavins  had  assumed  the  admin- 
istration of  Africa,  while  Octavius  retorted  by  charging  him  with 
the  murder  of  Sextus;  the  capture  of  Artavasdes,  an  ally  of  the 
Republic ;  above  all,  with  his  scandalous  connection  with  the 
Egyptian  queen,  and  his  acknowledging  her  child  Caesario  as  a 
genuine  son  of  the  dictator.  Antonius,  who  had  been  preparing 
an  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  suddenly  changed  the  desti- 
nation of  his  legions  to  Ephesus.  Thither  his  officers  were  di- 
rected to  bring  numerous  fresh  battalions  levied  throughout 
Greece,  Africa,  and  Asia.  Thither,  too,  he  summoned  the  bar- 
barian chiefs  from  the  Caspian  to  the  Syrtis  to  assemble  with 
their  hosts  of  auxiliaries.  Cleopatra  contributed  not  only  a  con- 
tingent of  troops,  but  a  squadron  of  the  most  powerful  galleys 
ever  launched  upon  the  Mediterranean.  The  object  of  all  these 
preparations  was  not  avowed.  Antonius  pretended  to  be  ab- 
sorbed in  frivolities.  He  passed  the  winter  at  Samos,  lavishing 
his  resources  upon  a  splendid  Dionysian  festival,  and  the  new 
Bacchus  repeated  his  former  extravagances  while  the  empire  of 
the  world  was  trembling  in  the  balance. 

During  the  year  32  b.  c.  the  consuls  were  Domitius  Ahenobar- 
bus  and  Sosius,  both  nominees  of  Antonius ;  but  their  influence  was 
counterbalanced  by  the  defection  of  some  important  partisans 
from  his  cause.  Plancus  returned  from  the  East,  charged  with 
the  testament  of  Antonius,  which  he  was  to  deposit  in  the  custody 
of  the  Vestal  Virgins.  This  document  he  betrayed  to  Octavius. 
The  Senate  learned  with  horror  that  the  renegade  triumvir  had 
recognized  Caesario  as  the  legitimate  heir  of  Caesar,  that  he  had 
distributed  crowns  and  provinces  among  his  own  bastards,  and 
directed  his  own  body  to  be  entombed  with  Cleopatra's  in  the 
mausoleum  of  the  Ptolemies.  No  one  could  any  longer  doubt  the 
truth  of  the  rumors  which  asserted  that  he  had  pledged  himself 
to  subject  Rome  to  the  caprices  of  the  Queen  of  Egypt,  to  remove 
to  Alexandria  the  seat  of  empire,  to  prostrate  the  gods  of  the 
Capitol  before  the  monsters  of  the  Nile.  He  even  presented 
Cleopatra  with  Roman  territory.  All  eyes  were  turned  upon  Octa- 
vius as  the  designated  savior  of  the  nation  and  of  its  faith. 
He  refrained,  however,  as  yet  from  declaring  Antonius  a  public 
enemy,  although  a  popular  decree  deprived  him  of  his  com- 
mand, and  contented  himself  with  proclaiming  war  with  Egypt. 


END     OF     CIVIL     WAR  25 

32-31  B.  C. 

With  the  sanction  of  the  Senate,  he  assumed  the  consulship,  with 
Messala  for  his  colleague,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  31  B.  c.  At 
such  a  crisis  the  legitimate  office  was  more  effective,  as  it  had 
always  been  more  popular,  than  any  extraordinary  commission. 

To  the  remonstrances  of  his  own  friends,  who  urged  him  to 
dismiss  Cleopatra,  Anton  ins  replied  by  divorcing  his  legitimate 
wife.  Preparations  for  war  were  pushed  forward  on  both  sides. 
The  forces  of  Antonius  numbered  100,000  infantry  and  12,000 
horse.  He  was  supported  by  many  kings  and  potentates  of  the 
East.  His  fleet  counted  500  galleys,  some  of  which  had  eight 
and  even  ten  banks  of  oars. 

The  infantry  of  Octavius  was  less  by  20,000,  his  cavalry 
about  equal,  and  his  fleet,  commanded  by  the  skillful  Agrippa, 
comprised  no  more  than  150  ships,  slighter  but  more  manageable 
than  those  of  his  enemy.  Finding  the  straits  unguarded,  Octavius 
carried  his  troops  over  into  Epirus,  and  from  that  moment  de- 
fection began  both  among  the  Roman  and  barbarian  leaders  on 
the  other  side.  Antonius  thought  himself  surrounded  by  traitors, 
and  required  Cleopatra  herself  to  taste  all  the  viands  set  before 
him. 

Both  on  land  and  at  sea  the  Western  power  began  to  assert 
its  superiority  in  the  preliminary  encounter.  The  two  armies  had 
been  gradually  concentrated  on  the  shores  of  the  Ambracian  Gulf, 
which  was  occupied  by  the  fleet  of  Antonius.  Here  Antonius 
challenged  his  rival  to  decide  the  contest  by  single  combat,  but 
received  a  contemptuous  refusal.  He  began  to  despair  of  victory, 
and  to  meditate  an  inglorious  escape  by  sea  to  Egypt,  leaving  his 
army  to  retreat  as  best  it  might  into  Asia. 

At  length,  in  September  of  31  b.  c,  at  mid-day,  with  a  light 
favoring  breeze,  the  huge  galleys  of  the  Oriental  fleet  sailed  forth 
into  the  open  sea.  Too  unwieldy  for  attack,  they  were  provided 
with  ponderous  defenses,  and  the  light  vessels  of  Octavius  could 
make  but  little  direct  impression  on  them.  The  Liburnian  tri- 
remes, however,  were  maneuvered  with  activity  and  intelligence. 
They  rowed  round  and  round  their  unwieldy  adversaries,  sweep- 
ing away  their  banks  of  oars,  distracting  their  defenders  with 
flights  of  arrows,  and  at  last  applying  fire  to  the  crippled  mon- 
sters. In  the  midst  of  the  fight  Cleopatra's  galley  hoisted  its  sails, 
threaded  the  maze  of  combatants,  and  stood  away  for  Egypt. 
Antonius  leaped  into  a  boat  and  hurried  after  her  in  disgraceful 


26  ITALY 

31  B.  C. 

flight.  The  rage  and  shame  of  his  adherents  filled  them  with 
despair;  yet  they  maintained  the  contest  with  determination  till, 
one  by  one,  their  huge  vessels  took  fire  and  burned  to  the  water's 
edge.     Three  hundred  galleys  were  captured. 

The  army  on  shore  for  some  time  refused  to  believe  in  the 
faint-hearted  conduct  of  its  chief;  and  it  was  not  till  Canidius,  the 
general  in  command,  passed  over  to  Octavius's  quarters  that  the 
gallant  legions  could  be  induced  to  make  their  submission. 

On  the  point  of  land,  the  acte,  which  overlooked  the  scene 
of  the  battle,  stood  a  little  chapel  of  Apollo,  known  as  the  Actium. 
From  this  place  the  great  sea-fight,  which  decided  the  fate  of 
Rome  and  of  the  world,  derived  its  name;  and  on  this  spot  Oc- 
tavius  instituted  the  festival  of  the  Actian  games,  which  was  cele- 
brated every  five  years  for  many  generations. 

The  conqueror  had  nothing  now  to  fear  from  Cleopatra  and 
her  minion ;  he  could  allow  their  punishment  to  bide  its  time.  Mae- 
cenas had  been  left  to  govern  Rome,  and  Agrippa  was  now  dis- 
patched to  pacify  Italy,  which  was  still  disturbed,  while  Octavius 
visited  Greece,  and  received  a  glad  welcome  from  its  people. 
Thence  he  passed  on  to  Asia,  where  provinces  and  dependent  king- 
doms promptly  submitted  to  him.  During  the  winter  he  visited 
Rome  for  a  few  days,  and  was  escorted  from  Brundisium  by  a 
crowd  of  citizens,  knights,  and  senators.  Once  more  he  was  forced 
to  sell  his  own  property  and  that  of  his  nearest  friends  to  satisfy 
the  claims  of  his  veterans;  and,  promising  an  ample  largess  out 
of  the  spoils  of  Egypt,  he  started  in  the  spring  to  complete  his 
victory  over  the  fugitives. 

The  news  of  Antonius's  defeat  at  Actium,  and  of  the  submis- 
sion of  his  land  army,  had  preceded  him  to  Egypt ;  and  on  his 
arrival  there  he  found  his  authority  renounced  by  the  Roman 
legions.  He  was  hardly  restrained  from  suicide;  but  on  rejoining 
Cleopatra  at  Alexandria  he  found  her  preparing,  with  masculine 
activity,  to  defend  herself.  One  after  another,  however,  her  allies 
fell  away  from  her,  and  then  she  conceived  the  idea  of  fleeing  with 
her  treasures  to  the  utmost  parts  of  Arabia.  Some  of  her  ships 
were  even  dragged  across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  to  the  Red  Sea,  but 
were  there  destroyed  by  the  Arabs.  The  project  had  to  be  aban- 
doned, as  was  also  the  still  wilder  scheme  of  taking  flight  to  Spain 
and  raising  that  turbulent  province  against  the  heir  of  Caesar. 
After  an  interval  of  sullen  isolation,  Antonius  returned  to  his  mis- 


END     OF     CIVIL     WAR  27 

31-30  B.C. 

tress  and  plunged  with  her  into  reckless  orgies  till  the  time  should 
come  for  both  to  die. 

Meantime  both  the  one  and  the  other  pleaded  for  mercy  sepa- 
rately from  the  victor.  Antonius  received  no  reply.  Cleopatra  was 
encouraged  to  hope  for  favor  if  she  would  rid  the  world  of  Anto- 
nius. Octavius  was  resolved  to  make  her  kingdom  his  own,  but 
he  wished  to  exhibit  her  alive  at  his  triumph,  and  he  was  most  anx- 
ious to  possess  himself  of  the  treasures  of  the  Ptolemies,  which 
she  had  it  in  her  power  to  secrete  or  destroy.  His  agents  suggested 
to  her  that  Octavius  was  young,  and  might  yield  to  the  power  of 
her  charms;  and  in  the  hope  of  a  last  conquest  she  determined  to 
betray  her  paramour.  As  the  conqueror  approached,  Antonius, 
encouraged  by  some  success  in  a  cavalry  skirmish,  prepared  to 
strike  one  blow  for  empire;  but  at  that  moment  both  his  navy  and 
his  troops,  seduced  by  the  queen's  artifices,  deserted  him.  He  was 
at  the  same  time  falsely  informed  that  she  had  committed  suicide. 
All  was  now  over  with  Antonius,  and  he  inflicted  upon  himself  a 
mortal  wound ;  but  before  he  died  the  queen  caused  him  to  be  con- 
veyed to  the  tower  in  which  she  had  taken  refuge,  and  he  expired  in 
her  arms. 

Octavius's  first  care  on  entering  Alexandria  was  to  secure  the 
queen  alive.  This  was  accomplished  with  some  difficulty;  she  re- 
turned to  the  palace,  resumed  her  state,  and  prepared  to  receive 
the  visit  of  Octavius.  Much  depended  for  her  on  her  success  in  this 
interview,  and  she  used  every  artifice  to  excite  the  pity,  if  not  the 
love,  of  her  young  conqueror.  Octavius  fixed  his  eyes  coldly  on  the 
ground,  asked  for  a  list  of  her  treasures,  and  bidding  her  be  of 
good  courage,  quitted  her.  Cleopatra  was  dismayed  at  her  failure ; 
but  on  learning  that  she  was  certainly  to  be  removed  to  Rome, 
made  up  her  mind  to  die.  She  retired  to  the  tower  of  her  mauso- 
leum, where  lay  the  body  of  Antonius,  and  was  next  day  found  dead 
with  her  two  women.  The  manner  of  her  death  was  never  certainly 
known,  but  at  the  triumph  of  Octavius  a  wax  image  of  her  was 
carried  in  the  procession,  with  the  arms  encircled  by  serpents ;  and 
this  confirmed  the  popular  rumor  that  she  perished  by  the  bite  of  an 
asp  conveyed  to  her  for  the  purpose  in  a  basket  of  figs.  Her  child 
by  Gesar  was  cruelly  put  to  death ;  the  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemies 
ceased  to  reign,  and  Egypt  became  a  Roman  province. 

With  the  death  of  Antonius  the  period  of  civil  wars  and  politi- 
cal strife  comes  to  an  end.      The  struggle  so  long  maintained  by 


28  ITALY 

30-29  B.  C. 

the  people  against  the  nobles  has  ended  in  the  submission  of  both 
parties  alike  to  a  supreme  ruler.  The  hour  has  come,  and  with  it  has 
appeared  the  one  man  capable  of  using  it  for  the  establishment  of  a 
durable  monarchy  upon  a  firm  foundation.  Had  Antonius  tri- 
umphed at  Actium,  his  profligate  empire  would  have  quickly  fallen 
to  pieces.  The  preeminent  genius  of  Octavius  is  attested  by  the 
permanence  of  the  edifice  which  he  erected.  The  creations  of  his 
hand  were  rooted  in  the  ancient  ideas  and  habits  of  the  people ;  they 
stood  the  test  of  time,  unlike  the  fabrics  of  Sulla's  and  Caesar's 
power,  which  quickly  collapsed  and  perished.  We  must  now  ex- 
amine the  system  adopted  by  the  real  founder  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
which  endured  in  its  main  features  for  more  than  two  centuries,  and 
continued  to  animate  the  governments  of  Rome  and  Constantinople 
down  to  the  commencement  of  modern  history,  if  indeed  it  can  be 
said  to  be  even  yet  extinguished.1 

1  To  resume :  In  a  few  words,  the  system  of  imperial  government,  as  it  was 
instituted  by  Augustus,  .  .  .  may  be  denned  as  an  absolute  monarchy  dis- 
guised by  the  forms  of  a  commonwealth. — Gibbon,  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  Rome," 
Bury's  ed.,  vol.  i.  p.  68. 

"  This  new  office  of  Imperator  was  nothing  else  than  the  primitive 
regal  office  reestablished.  .  .  .  There  is  hardly  a  trait  of  the  new  monarchy 
which  was  not  found  in  the  old."  But,  one  fact  is  never  to  be  forgotten:  All 
Roman  citizens  regarded  "  the  Imperator  as  the  living  and  personal  expression 
of  the  people."— Mommsen,  "History  of  Rome,"  tr.  vol.  v.  pp.  333-334- 


Chapter    V 

THE    FOUNDATION    OF   THE    EMPIRE    BY    AUGUSTUS 

29-27    B.C. 

AFTER  regulating  his  new  province,  Octavius  made  a  prog- 
ress through  his  Eastern  dominions,  rewarding  his  allies 
L  and  dispossessing  his  enemies.  He  passed  the  winter  at 
Samos,  wishing  perhaps  to  allow  more  time  for  his  proscriptions 
to  be  forgotten,  before  he  returned  in  triumph  to  Rome.  When 
at  last  he  reached  the  city,  in  the  middle  of  29  b.  c,  he  was  welcomed 
with  enthusiasm.  The  temple  of  Janus  was  closed  for  the  third  time 
in  Roman  history,  and  peace  prevailed  everywhere.  He  had  now 
to  choose  whether  he  would  be  a  citizen  of  the  commonwealth  or  its 
ruler.  The  framework  of  the  republican  government  still  existed; 
both  Senate  and  people  continued  to  exercise  their  prerogatives. 
Octavius  himself  professed  to  wield  only  a  delegated  authority.  He 
had  laid  down  the  extraordinary  powers  of  the  triumvirate ;  it  was 
as  consul  commissioned  by  the  state  that  he  conquered  at  Actium 
and  subjugated  Egypt.  His  acts  in  Greece  and  Asia  awaited  the 
confirmation  of  the  Senate.  So  moderate  and  loyal  did  he  seem  that 
his  popularity  was  unbounded. 

As  soon  as  the  ceremony  of  his  triple  triumph  was  ended,  Octa- 
vius ought  by  law  to  have  disbanded  his  army  and  laid  down  his 
command.  This  necessity  he  evaded ;  for  the  Senate,  eager  to  flatter 
and  caress  him,  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  Imperator,  and  al- 
lowed him  to  prefix  it  to  his  name,  as  Julius  Caesar  had  done, 
whereby  he  became  permanent  commander  of  the  national  forces. 
Every  ordinary  command  ceased  the  moment  the  imperator  entered 
the  city,  but  Octavius,  as  emperor,  might  wear  the  insignia  of  mili- 
tary power  even  within  the  city.  This  prerogative,  indeed,  he  never 
exercised,  and  his  example  was  followed  by  his  successors.  They 
generally  relinquished  even  the  formal  title  of  imperator  in  their 
ordinary  intercourse  with  their  subjects,  and  were  content  to  appear 
as  princes  or  premiers  of  the  citizens. 


30  ITALY 

29-27  B.  C. 

Having1  thus  secured  to  himself  the  army,  the  instrument  of 
substantial  power,  Octavius  sought  to  disguise  the  real  foundation  of 
his  authority  by  raising  the  estimation  of  the  Senate  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  national  will.  Julius  Caesar  first,  and  after  him  the 
triumvirs,  and  especially  Antonius,  had  degraded  the  Senate  by 
swelling  its  numbers  to  a  thousand,  and  thrusting  into  it  foreigners 
and  men  of  low  condition.  Octavius  now  assumed  the  powers  of 
the  censorship,  by  virtue  of  which  he  ejected  from  the  Senate  many 
who  were  unworthy  to  sit  in  so  august  an  assembly,  reducing 
the  number  to  six  hundred,  and  requiring  strictly  a  property 
qualification. 

Upon  the  Senate  thus  remodeled,  Octavius  conferred  additional 
dignity  by  placing  himself  at  its  head  as  Princeps,  the  most  honor- 
able of  all  republican  titles,  and  one  which  had  always  been  held  for 
life.  The  military  command  he  soon  offered  to  resign,  and,  after  a 
long  affectation  of  resistance,  accepted  it  only  for  a  term  of  years, 
but  it  was  afterward  repeatedly  renewed  to  him.  The  powers  both 
of  the  consul  and  of  the  censor,  but  without  the  titles,  were  in  like 
manner  renewed  to  him  from  time  to  time,  and  by  virtue  of  them 
he  occupied  the  highest  place  in  the  city,  and  was  recognized  as  the 
chief  of  the  state,  the  head  of  both  its  legislative  and  executive 
departments,  the  organ  of  its  foreign  relations.  The  Romans  had 
been  wont  to  say  that  their  consul  was,  in  fact,  a  king,  checked  by 
the  presence  of  a  colleague,  and  by  the  limited  term  of  his  office. 
Octavius,  however,  holding  his  authority  for  life,  and  sitting  para- 
mount above  the  titular  consuls,  reigned  under  the  forms  of  a  repub- 
lic as  real  king  of  the  Romans.  "  The  statesmanship  of  Augustus 
appears  most  clearly  of  all  in  his  reorganization  of  the  provincial 
government  of  the  Empire.  The  provinces  were  divided  into  two 
classes.  The  lower  provinces,  long  conquered  and  well  organized, 
were  left  under  the  administration  of  the  Senate  as  originally,  though 
their  governors  were  held  to  a  more  real  and  strict  responsibility. 
The  more  recent  provinces  and  those  on  the  frontiers,  which  were 
unsettled  and  exposed  to  attack,  the  emperor  held  in  his  own  hands, 
that  is,  he  governed  them  by  officers  appointed  by  himself  and  imme- 
diately responsible  to  him  for  their  conduct.  The  change  was  one 
of  great  advantage  to  the  provincials."  *  This  system  was  called 
the  dyarchy,  or  system  of  senatorial  and  imperial  provinces.  The 
prerogative  of  the  emperor  was  completed  by  the  acquisition  of  the 
1  G.  B.  Adams,  "  European  History,"  p.  io8. 


FOUNDATION     OF     EMPIRE  31 

29-27  B.  C. 

powers  of  the  tribunate,  which  were  conferred  on  him  in  perpetuity. 
The  chief  value  of  this  power  lay  in  the,  popularity  of  its  name. 
The  people,  long  accustomed  to  look  upon  the  tribunes  as  the  cham- 
pions of  their  liberties,  could  not  imagine  that  they  were  really  the 
slaves  of  one  who  held  that  title.  When  Octavius,  after  the  death 
of  Lepidus,  assumed  the  dignity  of  sovereign  pontiff,  he  combined 
in  his  single  hand  the  most  invidious  instruments  of  patrician 
tyranny  and  plebeian  independence. 

Nevertheless,  while  Octavius  thus  amassed  one  prerogative 
after  another,  he  discreetly  avoided  drawing  attention  to  his  really 
sovereign  power  by  the  assumption  of  any  distinctive  title.  Anto- 
nius  had  formally  abolished  the  dictatorship.  No  voice  was  allowed 
to  hail  the  new  Caesar  as  "  king."  Yet  the  need  was  felt  of  some 
distinguishing  name  to  express  the  new  power  which  had  arisen. 
Various  titles  2  were  discussed  between  the  emperor  and  his  friends, 
and  at  length  the  epithet  "  Augustus,"  hitherto  applied  only  to  the 
temples  and  services  of  the  gods,  was  proposed  and  determined 
on.  The  worship  of  Octavius  as  a  god  was  spreading  tacitly  in 
the  provinces,  though  as  yet  forbidden  in  Italy ;  the  name  of  Augus- 
tus, decreed  by  the  Senate  in  27  b.  c,  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the 
sentiment  of  adulation  which  already  possessed  the  people. 

The  question  has  often  been  discussed  whether  or  no  Julius 
Caesar  had  formed  any  definite  scheme  for  the  constitution  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  It  may  well  be  that,  had  his  life  been  prolonged, 
he  might  have  molded  the  whole  mass  of  the  citizens  and  subjects 
of  Rome  into  one  body  politic  under  his  own  autocratic  rule.  Judg- 
ing from  his  treatment  of  the  Gauls,  both  in  Italy  and  beyond  the 
Alps,  it  seems  certain  that  his  policy  would  have  been  to  break 
down  the  barriers  which  divided  citizens  from  subjects,  and  to  fuse 
all  the  various  races  which  peopled  the  Roman  Empire  into  one  vast 
nation  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights,  with  one  language  and  one  law 
for  all  alike.  The  conquests  of  Alexander,  with  the  consequent 
wide  diffusion  of  the  Greek  tongue,  had  familiarized  the  world  with 
this  idea  in  practice,  and  the  speculations  of  every  school  of  philos- 
ophy encouraged  mankind  to  look  forward  with  longing  to  such 
a  consummation,  as  the  greatest  blessing  that  could  be  conferred 
upon  the  human  race.  The  Epicurean  philosophy  and  the  popular 
traditions  inherited  by  Julius  Caesar  both  inclined  him  to  favor  such 

2  The  common  titles  of  the  Roman  ruler  were :    Princeps,  Caesar,  Imperator, 
Augustus. 


32  ITALY 

29-27  B.  C. 

ideas,  which,  to  an  old-fashioned  Roman,  must  have  seemed  nothing 
short  of  revolutionary. 

The  policy  of  Augustus  was  on  this  point,  as  on  most  others, 
diametrically  opposed  to  that  of  his  great-uncle.  Julius  had  fallen 
j,ust  as  the  throne  had  been  attained;  Augustus,  ever  studious  to 
avoid  a  like  fate,  marked  his  uncle's  footsteps  only  to  avoid  them. 
Julius  had  openly,  and  without  extenuation,  grasped  at  kingly 
power;  his  nephew  strove  by  every  means  to  disguise  the  reality  of 
his  own  kingship  behind  the  mask  of  republican  forms.  Julius  had 
aspired  to  mold  mankind  into  one  great  nation,  and  had  thereby 
alienated  the  old  national  party  in  Rome.  Augustus  steadily  op- 
posed these  subversive  notions.  Resisting  all  the  pressure  brought 
to  bear  upon  him,  he  stoutly  maintained  that  the  Romans  were  a 
peculiar  people,  the  born  sovereigns  of  mankind,  the  conquerors 
and  rulers  of  the  world.  This  statement,  however,  must  be  under- 
stood with  discrimination.  Augustus,  the  child  of  the  popular 
party,  could  not  altogether  repudiate  the  doctrines  as  the  represen- 
tative of  which  he  had  risen  to  power ;  he,  too,  extended  the  Roman 
franchise  to  the  provincials,  but  always  in  a  cautious  and  temperate 
manner,  taking  care  to  give  due  effect  to  the  opposing  doctrine 
which  asserted  the  privileged  character  of  the  Roman  people.  The 
exact  color  of  his  system,  which  had  shifted  its  hues  during  his 
early  career,  seems  to  have  been  definitely  fixed  from  the  day  when, 
arrayed  against  the  foreign  forces  of  his  rival  Antonius,  he  came 
forth  at  the  head  of  the  Senate,  the  people  and  the  gods  of  Rome, 
as  the  champion  of  the  whole  nation,  without  respect  to  class  or 
party. 

The  extension  of  the  Roman  franchise  was  by  no  means  the 
only  matter  concerning  which  a  conflict  of  ideas  was  in  progress. 
Roman  praetors  and  proconsuls  had  carried  the  Roman  law  into 
every  province  of  the  Empire,  but  they  had  also  been  compelled 
to  take  account  of  the  usages  and  principles  of  jurisprudence  al- 
ready established  among  the  conquered  races,  many  of  which  were 
more  in  harmony  than  the  hard  old  laws  of  Rome  with  the  advanc- 
ing cultivation  and  humanity  of  the  age.  These  foreign  principles 
of  law  were  gradually  asserting  themselves,  and  forcing  their  way 
even  into  the  Roman  Forum.  There  arose  two  schools  of  Roman 
lawyers,  the  conservative  and  the  liberal.  It  has  already  been  stated 
that  Julius  contemplated  a  codification  of  Roman  law,  and  it  is 
probable  that  he  aimed  at  a  large  modification  of  the  old  laws  of 


FOUNDATION     OF     EMPIRE  S3 

29-27  B.  C. 

the  Republic,  so  as  to  bring-  them  into  harmony  with  the  more 
liberal  jurisprudence  of  other  countries.  Augustus  threw  his  weight 
into  the  opposite  scale,  and  strove  to  preserve  the  ancient  laws  as 
little  changed  as  possible. 

In  the  realm  of  religion  the  conflict  of  ideas  was  the  hottest 
of  all.  For  two  centuries  Rome  had  in  vain  attempted  to  maintain 
her  old  mythology  and  ritual  in  face  of  the  new  ideas  which 
crowded  in  upon  her  from  foreign  parts.  Now  Greeks,  Egyptians, 
Syrians,  even  Jews,  as  subjects  of  the  Empire,  demanded  the  recog- 
nition and  free  exercise  of  their  religious  creeds  and  usages.  The 
metropolis  of  the  world  had  become  the  common  receptacle  of  all 
existing  beliefs  and  ceremonials.  Here,  too,  Augustus  exerted  all 
his  force  to  sustain  and  revive  the  old  national  traditions.  For  his 
own  part,  he  seems  to  have  been  devoid  of  all  belief  in  any  of  the 
speculative  systems  current  in  his  time,  and  derided  the  ideologists, 
who  were  not  content,  as  he  was  himself,  with  taking  the  material 
world  as  he  found  it,  and  putting  it  to  its  practical  uses.  But  he 
perceived  the  danger  of  leaving  the  multitude  to  be  tossed  to  and 
fro  by  a  constant  succession  of  new  and  exciting  blasts  of  doctrine 
on  such  a  subject.  Augustus  was  engaged  in  constructing  a  fixed 
and  enduring  order  of  affairs.  Accordingly  he  repaired  the  crum- 
bling temples,  revived  the  priesthoods,  and  renewed  the  ancient 
ceremonials.  The  "  Fasti "  of  the  court  poet,  Ovid,  were,  in  fact, 
a  calendar  of  the  ritual  of  the  year.  The  Romans  were  given  to 
understand  that  their  new  chief,  who  had  once  saved  their  country 
from  conquest,  and  their  gods  from  desecration,  had  now  placed 
the  one  under  the  protection  of  the  other,  and  bound  them  together 
by  a  pledge  of  mutual  recognition. 

The  policy  of  Augustus  was  on  all  sides  essentially  reaction- 
ary. Yet  we  need  not  suppose  that  he  was  blind  to  the  force  of 
circumstances  prevailing  around  him,  or  that  he  expected  ultimately 
to  arrest  the  progress  of  ideas.  It  was  enough  for  him  if  he  could 
divert  or  moderate  them ;  enough,  at  least,  if  he  could  persuade 
his  countrymen  that  he  was  doing  more  than  anyone  else  could 
do  to  maintain  their  Empire  on  the  stable  foundations  of  the  ancient 
ways.  It  is  just  possible  that  a  man  of  greater  genius  and  boldness 
might  have  molded  his  opportunity  to  a  higher  issue  by  guiding 
the  revolutionary  forces  which  he  strove  merely  to  restrain.  But 
we  must  acknowledge  how  grand  was  the  result  which,  following 
his  own  temper,  and  the  bent  of  his  own  character,  he  did  actually 


34  ITALY 

29-27  B.  C. 

effect.  The  establishment  of  the  Roman  Empire  was,  after  all,  the 
greatest  political  work  that  any  human  being  ever  wrought.  The 
achievement  of  Alexander,  of  Caesar,  of  Charlemagne,  of  Napo- 
leon, is  not  to  be  compared  with  it  for  a  moment. 

The  name  of  Julius  Caesar  was  the  watchword  of  the  veterans 
who  conquered  under  his  nephew,  and  it  continued  dear  to  the  mass 
of  the  citizens,  as  that  of  the  man  who  had  crushed  the  oligarchy  and 
avenged  the  Sullan  massacres.  Yet  the  great  writers  of  the  Au- 
gustan Age  reflect  but  little  of  this  enthusiasm.  Virgil  and  Horace 
have  no  panegyrics  for  the  elder  Caesar.  We  need  not  attribute  this 
silence  to  any  unworthy  jealousy  on  the  part  of  Augustus  of  the 
memory  of  his  great  predecessor.  It  was  the  result  of  political 
design.  As  soon  as  the  rivalry  of  Antonius  was  crushed,  the  atti- 
tude of  Augustus  toward  the  aristocracy  completely  changed,  and 
he  thenceforth  devoted  to  its  interests  all  the  powers  he  had  received 
from  the  triumphant  democracy.  The  nobles  could  not  long  refuse 
their  support  to  a  conqueror  who  carried  out  their  own  ideas  of 
conservatism  and  reaction,  who  promoted  the  son  of  Cicero  and 
the  friend  of  Brutus  to  the  highest  offices,  and  who  offered  to 
themselves,  without  reserve,  careers  of  honorable  and  lucrative  em- 
ployment. At  the  same  time  the  lower  classes  were  tranquilized 
and  amused  by  shows  and  largesses,  and  relieved  from  the  burden 
of  military  service.  Citizens  of  all  ranks  were  set  at  ease  by  the 
cessation  of  political  proscriptions,  flattered  by  the  assurance  that 
their  empire  over  the  nations  was  completed  and  secured,  com- 
forted by  the  knowledge  that  the  favor  of  the  gods  had  been  pur- 
chased, and  the  stability  of  the  state  insured  by  the  piety  of  the 
emperor. 

The  easy  acquiescence  of  the  Romans  in  a  regal  tyranny  thus 
slightly  disguised  ceases  to  be  surprising  when  we  consider,  first, 
the  weariness  engendered  by  a  whole  century  of  civil  strife  and 
bloodshed;  and  second,  the  fact  that  the  race  of  true  old  Roman 
citizens  had  to  a  great  extent  died  out,  and  their  places  had  been 
filled  by  a  crowd  of  bastard  citizens  of  miscellaneous  origin.  To 
such  a  mongrel  nation  royal  rule  could  hardly  imply  degeneracy  or 
decay.  Had  not  Macedonia  been  glorious  under  Philip  and  Alex- 
ander? Had  not  Sparta,  and  even  Rome  itself,  been  conspicuous 
for  heroism  under  a  dynasty  of  kings?  The  Romans  had  ceased  to 
value  or  understand  free  political  life,  but  they  could  appreciate  old 
customs,  religious  traditions,  wise  laws;  and  as  they  watched  the 


FOUNDATION     OF     EMPIRE  35 

29-27  B.  C. 

revival  or  establishment  of  such  institutions,  they  looked  forward 
hopefully  to  a  new  career  of  growth  and  progress. 

In  his  personal  habits  and  demeanor  Augustus  carefully  dis- 
tinguished between  the  imperator  and  the  princeps.  He  withdrew 
from  the  familiarity  which  Caesar  had  used  toward  his  legionaries, 
no  longer  addressing  them  as  "  comrades,"  but  always  as  "  sol- 
diers." But  in  private  life,  amid  all  the  magnificence  which  he 
encouraged  on  the  part  of  his  nobles,  he  himself  was  studiously 
simple  and  modest.  His  house  on  the  Palatine  was  moderate  in 
size  and  ornament.  His  dress  was  that  of  a  plain  senator,  woven 
by  the  hands  of  Livia  and  her  maidens  in  her  own  apartment.  He 
traversed  the  streets  as  a  private  citizen,  with  no  more  than  the 
ordinary  retinue  of  slaves  and  clients,  courteously  addressing  the 
acquaintances  he  encountered  by  taking  them  by  the  hand,  or  lean- 
ing on  their  shoulders,  allowing  himself  to  be  summoned  as  a  wit- 
ness in  their  suits,  and  attending  at  their  houses  on  occasions  of 
domestic  interest.  At  table  he  was  sober  and  decorous;  his  guests 
were  few  in  number,  and  chosen,  for  the  most  part,  for  their  social 
qualities.  Augustus  was  specially  fortunate  in  the  poets  he  at- 
tracted to  his  court  and  person.  Horace  taught  his  contemporaries 
to  acquiesce  in  the  new  regime  securely  and  contentedly,  while 
Virgil  kindled  their  imaginations  and  shed  over  the  Empire  of  the 
Caesars  the  halo  of  legendary  antiquity.  In  the  temples  on  days 
of  public  service,  around  their  own  hearths  on  every  ordinary  occa- 
sion, the  Romans  were  taught  to  remember  in  their  prayers  the 
restorer  of  order,  the  creator  of  universal  felicity,  and  to  pour  a 
libation  for  a  blessing  on  themselves  and  on  Caesar,  the  father  of 
his  country. 

This  title,  the  proudest  any  Roman  could  obtain,  had  long 
been  bestowed  by  the  citizens  in  private  on  their  hero  and  patron, 
when  at  last  the  Senate  took  up  the  voice  of  the  nation,  and  con- 
ferred it  upon  him  with  due  solemnity.  The  proposal  was  received 
and  confirmed  with  eager  acclamations ;  and  Valerius  Messala,  one 
of  the  noblest  of  the  order,  was  deputed  to  offer  the  title  in  the 
name  of  the  Senate  and  the  people.  "  Conscript  fathers,"  replied 
the  emperor,  "my  wishes  are  now  fulfilled,  my  vows  are  accom- 
plished. I  have  nothing  more  to  ask  of  the  Immortals  but  that  I 
may  retain  to  my  dying  day  the  unanimous  approval  you  now 
bestow  upon  me." 


Chapter   VI 

CONDITION    OF    THE    EMPIRE   UNDER   AUGUSTUS 
31    B.  C.-14   A.  D. 

ITALY,  which  now  extended  from  the  Alps  to  the  Straits  of 
Messana,  was  divided  into  eleven  regions,  and  governed  by 
the  praetor  in  the  city.  The  rest  of  the  Empire  was  appor- 
tioned between  the  emperor  and  the  Senate.  The  imperial  prov- 
inces were  as  follows :  The  Tarraconensis  and  Lusitania,  in  Spain ; 
Gaul  beyond  the  Alps,  including  Upper  and  Lower  Germany — 
the  districts  bordering  upon  the  Rhine ;  Pannonia  and  Macedonia ; 
Coelesyria  and  Phoenicia;  Cilicia,  Cyprus,  and  Egypt.  To  the  Sen- 
ate were  assigned  Baetica,  Numidia,  Africa,  Cyrenaica,  Achaia, 
Asia,  and  the  great  islands  off  the  coast  of  Italy.  Dalmatia  and 
Illyricum,  at  first  given  to  the  Senate,  was  soon  afterward  taken 
by  the  emperor  in  exchange  for  the  Narbonensis  and  Cyprus. 
Palestine  was  added  by  Augustus  to  the  Empire,  which  then  in- 
cluded every  coast  and  island  of  the  Mediterranean  except  Maure- 
tania.  Those  parts  of  the  Empire  such  as  Gaul,  Pannonia,  and 
Thrace,  which  extended  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  the  inland 
sea,  were  little  more  than  wild  forests.  The  populous  and  civilized 
parts  of  the  Roman  dominion,  including  all  the  great  cities  and 
centers  of  commerce,  formed  but  a  fringe  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean. 

The  possession  of  this  great  central  waterway  was  most  favor- 
able to  the  peaceful  development  of  the  Empire.  The  facility  thus 
afforded  for  the  interchange  of  commerce  and  of  thought  bound  all 
the  provinces  together  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  interest;  and  so 
secure  was  the  peace  which  resulted  from  this  cause  that  the  Medi- 
terranean provinces  were  left  almost  wholly  without  military  gar- 
risons. Italy,  and  Rome  itself,  were  in  like  manner  almost  desti- 
tute of  regular  defenders,  the  emperor  being  content  to  confide 
his  personal  safety  to  a  few  cohorts  of  bodyguards  or  praetorians. 
It  was  not  till  the  reign  of  his  successor  that  these  troops  were  col-, 
lected  into  a  camp  at  the  gates  of  the  city.  Their  number  never 
exceeded  10,000  or  20,000.    The  legions,  which  fonned  the  stand- 

36 


COLOSSAL    STATUE   OF   CAR'S    JULIUS    CAESAR   OCTAVIANUS    AUGUSTUS 

(Born    63    n.  c.     Died    14   a.  rO 
In  the  J'atican  Museum,  Rome 


EMPIRE     UNDER     AUGUSTUS  37 

31-27  B.C. 

ing  army  of  the  Empire,  were  relegated  to  the  frontiers  or  to  tur- 
bulent provinces.  Three  legions  occupied  Spain;  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine  were  guarded  by  eight;  two  were  quartered  in  Africa,  two 
in  Egypt;  four  were  posted  on  the  Euphrates,  and  four  on  the 
Danube;  and  two  were  held  in  reserve  in  Dalmatia,  whence,  if  re- 
quired, they  could  easily  be  summoned  to  Rome.  Each  of  these 
twenty-five  legions  mustered  6100  foot  and  720  horse;  they  were 
recruited,  for  the  most  part,  among  the  subject  races  outside  Italy, 
and  the  local  auxiliaries  attached  to  each  legion,  and  armed  and 
drilled  after  their  native  usage,  about  doubled  the  numbers  of  the 
force,  raising  the  total  of  the  imperial  armies  to  340,000  men.  The 
Italians  claimed  exemption  from  legionary  service,  and  were  en- 
listed only  in  the  praetorian  cohorts. 

Augustus  was  the  first  to  establish  a  regular  and  permanent 
navy,  which  he  stationed  under  the  supreme  command  of  Agrippa 
at  Misenum,  Ravenna,  and  Forum  Julii,  or  Frejus,  in  Gaul.  These 
fleets  kept  the  pirates  in  check,  secured  the  free  transmission  of 
grain  to  the  capital,  and  convoyed  the  ships  which  brought  tribute 
in  money  from  the  East  and  the  West. 

The  sources  of  public  revenue  were  numerous  and  varied.  The 
public  domain  had  indeed,  for  the  most  part,  lapsed  into  the  hands 
of  private  proprietors.  The  land-tax  had  been  remitted  to  the  soil 
of  Italy,  since  the  conquest  of  Macedonia,  but  was  levied  in  every 
other  part  of  the  Empire;  no  citizen  or  subject  was  free  from  the 
pressure  of  the  poll-tax.  Mines  and  quarries,  fisheries  and  salt 
works,  were  public  property  farmed  for  the  state.  Tolls  and  cus- 
toms were  levied  on  every  road  and  in  every  city,  and  every  sort 
of  personal  property,  including  slaves,  paid  an  ad  valorem  duty. 
Augustus  imposed  a  rate  of  one-twentieth  upon  legacies,  but  this 
experiment  caused  considerable  murmurs.  Egypt  and  Africa  paid 
a  special  contribution  in  grain  for  the  supply  of  Italy  and  Rome, 
and  the  emperors  found  themselves  obliged  to  keep  up  the  old  prac- 
tice of  doles  and  largesses,  whereby  provincial  industry  was  taxed 
to  support  idle  arrogance  at  home.  The  Empire  under  Augustus, 
bounded  by  the  Rhine,  the  Danube,  the  Euphrates,  Mount  Atlas, 
and  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  had  almost  reached  the  farthest  limits  that 
it  ever  permanently  retained,  though  the  conquest  of  Britain  had 
yet  to  be  undertaken.  The  population  of  this  vast  region  is  com- 
puted at  about  100,000,000,  and  during  the  long  period  of  peace  and 
prosperity  which   ensued,   it   probably  continued   to   increase   for 


38  ITALY 

27-21  B.  C. 

another  century.  The  population  of  Rome  may  be  roughly  reck- 
oned at  700,000,  and  though  it  long  continued  to  increase,  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  ever  much  exceeded  1,000,000 — a  number  which 
was  probably  approached,  if  not  equaled,  by  the  census  both  of 
Antioch  and  of  Alexandria. 

The  new  ruler  set  about  embellishing  his  capital  by  the 
erection  of  temples  and  public  buildings,  improving  so  greatly  the 
city  that  he  boasted  that  whereas  he  found  a  city  of  brick,  he  left 
one  of  marble.  In  this  he  was  seconded  by  his  nobles,  and  es- 
pecially by  his  friend  Agrippa,  who,  having  secured,  by  his  signal 
services  in  the  field,  the  second  place  in  the  commonwealth,  loyally 
abstained  from  aiming  at  the  first.  In  the  year  23  b.  c,  when 
Augustus,  prostrated  by  fever,  seemed  unlikely  to  recover,  it  was 
to  Agrippa  that  he  handed  his  ring — a  hint,  as  it  was  deemed,  that 
it  was  on  him  he  would  most  desire  that  the  Empire  should  be 
conferred.  To  Agrippa  he  intrusted,  on  his  recovery,  an  Eastern 
command,  which  made  him  almost  an  equal,  and  a  possible  rival, 
to  himself. 

Augustus  was  further  supported  by  the  tact  and  prudence  of 
C.  Cilnius  Maecenas.  This  man  had  governed  Italy  for  him  during 
his  struggle  with  Antonius,  and  long  remained  his  chief  adviser: 
to  his  suggestions  the  Romans  ascribed  the  first  outlines  of  the  im- 
perial system  of  government.  The  genial  character  of  Maecenas 
attracted  to  his  side  the  best  and  ablest  men  of  the  day,  and  secured 
the  favor  of  the  literary  class.  At  his  table  Virgil,  Horace,  Varius, 
and  Pollio  discussed,  in  the  presence  of  Augustus,  all  the  various 
schemes  of  philosophy  and  politics,  and  brought  them  to  an  ami- 
cable settlement. 

The  principal  events  of  the  reign  of  Augustus,  which  extended 
over  more  than  forty  years,  were  of  little  mark,  and  may  be  shortly 
enumerated.  An  outbreak  of  the  Cantabrian  mountaineers  in 
Spain  compelled  the  emperor  to  take  the  field  against  them. 
Stricken  by  sickness,  he  quitted  the  camp,  and  left  his  generals  to 
complete  their  reduction.  On  the  accomplishment  of  this  conquest, 
he  closed  Janus  a  second  time.  The  Pax  Romana,  as  it  was 
proudly  designated,  did  not,  however,  remain  long  without  dis- 
turbance, either  on  the  frontier  or  in  the  interior.  Neither  was  the 
old  spirit  of  Roman  aggression  yet  wholly  pacified.  The  proposal 
to  retrieve  the  ill  success  of  Caesar  against  Britain  was  indeed  dis- 
cussed, but  prudently  abandoned. 


EMPIRE     UNDER     AUGUSTUS  39 

21-15  B.  C. 

In  the  year  21  b.  c.  Augustus,  who  had  just  put  down  the  abor- 
tive conspiracy  of  Murena,  ventured  to  leave  Rome  on  a  long  prog- 
ress through  his  Eastern  dominions.  In  Sicily  he  planted  colonies 
at  Syracuse  and  elsewhere.  In  Greece  he  bestowed  favors  on  Sparta, 
while  he  withdrew  from  Athens  her  lucrative  privilege  of  selling 
her  franchise.  After  wintering  at  Samos,  he  advanced  through 
Asia  to  Syria,  where  he  punished  the  people  of  Tyre  and  Sidon  for 
their  turbulence,  and  perhaps  even  as  far  as  Palestine,  where  he 
seems  to  have  granted  some  extension  of  territory  to  Herod,  King 
of  Judaea.  The  chief  object  of  this  proconsular  tour  was  to  recover 
the  standards  of  Crassus  from  the  Parthians.  Tiberius  Claudius 
advanced  with  an  army  into  Armenia,  and  Phraates  the  Parthian 
at  once  conceded  his  demands.  Contemporary  medals  represent 
him  as  doing  homage  at  the  feet  of  the  emperor's  representative 
and  receiving  the  crown  from  his  hands.  The  long-lost  trophies, 
the  brazen  eagles,  cherished  objects  of  the  soldiers'  devotion,  were 
restored  by  Tiberius  to  his  father  and  by  him  transmitted  to  Rome, 
and  suspended  in  the  temple  of  Mars  the  Avenger.  They  were 
greeted  by  the  people  with  acclamations,  and  by  the  poets  with 
paeans  of  triumph. 

After  receiving  a  renewal  of  his  powers  for  a  second  term  of 
five  years  in  18  b.  c.  Augustus  determined  to  celebrate  his  restora- 
tion of  the  state  by  holding  the  secular  games  with  solemn  cere- 
mony. They  were  supposed  to  be  held  every  hundredth  or  hun- 
dred and  tenth  year  of  the  Republic;  and  the  Sibylline  books,  on 
being  consulted,  sanctioned  the  celebration.  Heralds  traversed  the 
streets,  inviting  every  citizen  to  attend  upon  a  spectacle  "  which 
none  of  them  had  ever  seen,  and  none  could  ever  see  again."  The 
ceremonies  were  very  simple.  Sulphur,  pitch,  wheat,  and  barley 
were  distributed.  The  Aventine,  the  Palatine,  and  the  Capitoline 
were  paraded  by  the  multitude.  Sacrifices  were  offered ;  the  game 
of  Troy  was  enacted;  and  the  festival  ended  with  the  performance 
of  a  choral  ode  of  praise  and  thanksgiving,  probably  the  actual 
hymn  included  among  Horace's  poems  as  "  Carmen  Sceculare." 

In  the  year  15  b.  c.  the  security  of  the  Empire  was  threatened 
by  barbarian  tribes  along  its  whole  northern  frontier.  On  the  Lower 
Rhine  the  legions  had  been  defeated  by  the  Germans  with  the  loss 
of  an  eagle.  The  mountain  tribes  of  Switzerland  were  menacing 
the  Cisalpine.  The  Istrian  peninsula  was  invaded  by  the  Pan- 
nonians  and  Noricans.     The  Dalmatians  were  in  revolt.     Mace- 


40  ITALY 

15-13  B.C. 

donia  was  ravaged  by  the  Msesians,  and  Thrace  by  the  Sarmatians. 
Augustus  himself  traveled  as  far  as  Lugdunum,  in  Gaul,  to  in- 
quire on  the  spot  into  the  weakness  of  the  administration  of  that 
province.  At  the  same  time,  Drusus  Claudius  Nero,  the  emperor's 
younger  step-son,  overthrew  the  Rhsetians  among  the  Alps  near 
Trent,  and  defeated  the  barbarous  tribes  in  the  valley  of  the  Inn; 
while  Tiberius  followed  the  course  of  the  Rhine  as  far  up  as  the 
Lake  of  Constance,  and  crushed  the  enemy  in  that  quarter. 

We  are  entering  on  the  career  of  an  imperial  dynasty.  The 
consuls  and  tribunes  of  the  Roman  commonwealth,  though  the 
titles  and  offices  still  survive,  fall  henceforth  into  a  position  of 
minor  importance.  The  emperors  indeed,  from  Augustus  on- 
ward, will  commonly  assume  the  title  of  consul,  and  invariably 
maintain  their  grasp  on  the  tribunician  power,  dating  the  years 
of  their  reign  by  the  intervals  of  its  renewal.  But  those  who 
are  associated  with  them  in  these  offices  are  overshadowed  by 
the  superior  dignity  and  power  of  the  imperial  throne.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  kindred  of  the  emperor  will  occupy  a  prominent 
place  in  the  state,  for  from  among  them  the  rulers  of  the  world  are 
to  be  chosen. 

Octavia,  the  sister  of  Augustus,  and  wife  of  Antonius,  had  a 
son  by  a  previous  marriage  named  M.  Marcellus,  who,  in  default 
of  sons  to  his  uncle,  was  for  some  time  the  hope  of  the  house.  This 
youth  gave  high  promise  of  ability,  as  we  learn  from  the  matchless 
praises  bestowed  upon  him  by  Virgil ;  and  to  him  Augustus  gave 
for  wife  his  only  child  Julia,  the  daughter  of  Scribonia.  But  Mar- 
cellus died  in  23  b.  c.  at  the  age  of  twenty,  leaving  no  offspring. 
Julia  was  soon  remarried  to  M.  Agrippa,  and  by  him  had  several 
children,  to  one  of  whom  the  succession  to  the  Empire  might  be 
reasonably  expected  to  fall.  The  two  eldest  sons,  Caius  and 
Lucius,  grew  up,  and  were  advanced  in  the  public  service;  but  both 
of  them  were  cut  off  in  early  life — the  one  in  4  a.  d.,  the  other  in 
7  a.  d.  A  third  son,  Postumus,  was  pronounced  by  his  grand- 
father unfit  for  public  life,  and  was  put  aside,  if  not  murdered,  by 
his  order.  There  were  also  two  daughters:  Julia,  married  to 
JEmilius  Paulus,  and  Agrippina,  the  wife  of  Claudius  Germanicus, 
of  whom  more  remains  to  be  told. 

So  few  and  obscure  were  the  direct  descendants  of  the  great 
emperor;  but  he  had  attached  another  branch  to  the  stem  of  his 
house  by  his  last  marriage  with  Livia  Drusilla.    This  noted  matron, 


EMPIRE     UNDER     AUGUSTUS  41 

13-11  B.C. 

the  first  woman  who  attained  a  public  position  and  became  a  real 
power  in  the  state,  had  been  married  to  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero, 
and  had  already  borne  him  a  son,  Tiberius.  In  the  year  38  b.  c, 
Octavius,  after  divorcing  Scribonia,  snatched  Livia  from  her  hus- 
band and  married  her  himself.  A  few  months  later  she  bore  a 
second  son,  Drusus,  of  whom  Octavius  was  reputed  to  be  the 
father.  Livia  bore  no  more  children,  but  maintained  her  dominion 
over  the  heart  of  her  husband,  and  secured  for  her  two  sons  the 
first  place  in  his  affections.  Tiberius  and  Drusus  were  both  men 
of  ability,  and  proved  worthy  of  the  confidence  placed  in  them. 
These  two  step-sons  of  the  emperor  first  distinguished  themselves 
in  command  against  the  Alpine  mountaineers,  and  were  afterward 
intrusted  with  the  more  important  task  of  combating  the  Germans 
and  Pannonians. 

Augustus  required  of  both  an  entire  devotion  to  his  interests 
and  those  of  the  state,  exposing  them  to  the  hardships  of  a  pro- 
longed warfare  far  from  the  pleasures  of  the  capital.  While  Ti- 
berius was  sent  to  quell  an  insurrection  in  Pannonia,  Drusus  was 
charged  with  the  administration  of  Gaul.  He  signalized  his  gov- 
ernment of  that  disturbed  province  by  raising  an  altar  to  Augustus 
at  Lugdunum — thus  confronting  the  influence  of  the  Druids  by  the 
awful  associations  connected  with  the  majesty  of  the  emperor  and 
the  fortune  of  Rome. 

The  Rhine,  defended  by  a  chain  of  fortified  posts,  had  long- 
formed  the  frontier  of  the  Empire;  but  the  impetuous  youth  who 
now  commanded  the  legions  in  that  quarter  aspired  to  the  conquest 
of  Germany  and  the  reduction  of  Central  Europe  to  the  same  state 
of  subjection  as  Gaul  or  Spain.  Starting  from  the  northeastern 
frontier  of  Gaul,  Drusus  attacked  the  Usipetes  and  Sicambri  in  the 
country  of  the  Lippe  and  the  Lahn,  the  modern  provinces  of  West- 
phalia and  Nassau.  His  aim  was  to  penetrate  as  far  as  the  Weser, 
and  the  seats  of  the  powerful  Chauci  and  Cherusci,  now  known  as 
Hanover  and  Detmold.  With  this  object  he  dispatched  an  expedi- 
tion by  sea  to  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers  which  fall  into  the 
German  Ocean,  so  as  to  surprise  the  enemy  in  flank  and  rear.  He 
easily  drove  the  Germans  before  him  by  land,  but  his  maritime 
armament  was  shattered  by  the  waves  and  shallows,  and  he  was 
forced  to  beat  an  inglorious  retreat. 

In  a  second  campaign  the  eagles  were  advanced  as  far  as  the 
Weser;  but  the  Germans  retired  steadily,  refusing  to  risk  a  battle: 


42  ITALY 

11-9  B.  C. 

and  Drustts  did  not  extricate  himself  without  difficulty  from  his 
perilous  position.  An  outpost  was  planted  at  Aliso,  fifty  miles 
east  of  the  Rhine ;  and  for  his  successes  the  emperor  granted  him 
the  triumphal  ensigns  and  the  honor  of  an  ovation,  but  refused 
him  the  title  of  imperator.  Meanwhile  the  exploits  of  Tiberius 
against  the  Pannonians  were  deemed  worthy  of  a  similar  recogni- 
tion. Augustus  had  the  satisfaction  of  exhibiting  both  his  step- 
sons to  the  people  in  the  character  of  national  heroes.  In  the  year 
ii  b.  c.  Tiberius  was  married  to  Julia,  and  about  the  same  time 
Octavia  died. 

In  the  year  10  b.  c.  Augustus  again  visited  Gaul,  and,  yielding 
to  the  instances  of  Drusus,  authorized  another  expedition  beyond 
the  Rhine.  This  time  the  Roman  army  penetrated  through  the 
country  of  the  Chatti  as  far  as  the  River  Elbe.  But  the  Cherusci 
still  retired  before  them.  Drusus  became  alarmed  at  the  perils 
of  his  situation.  Unfavorable  omens  were  reported;  and  after 
erecting  a  trophy  to  mark  their  farthest  point,  the  legions  re- 
treated; but  before  reaching  the  Rhine,  the  young  conqueror  was 
killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  Augustus  conveyed  the  remains, 
with  ample  honors,  to  Rome,  and  himself  pronounced  an  oration 
over  the  body  when  it  was  buried  in  his  own  mausoleum  in  the 
Campus  Martius.  The  title  of  Germanicus,  which  had  been 
conferred  on  the  young  hero,  was  allowed  to  descend  to  his  son. 

Tiberius,  who  had  succeeded  in  consolidating  the  Roman 
power  south  of  the  Danube,  was  now  sent  to  Gaul  to  complete  his 
brother's  conquests.  His  campaigns  in  the  years  8  and  y  b.  c.  pro- 
duced but  little  result,  and  he  was  soon  withdrawn  by  the  emperor  to 
Rome,  and  made  consul  for  a  second  time. 

After  the  death  of  Agrippa  in  the  year  I2B.  c.  and  that  of  Dru- 
sus in  the  year  9  b.  c,  the  hopes  of  the  people  and  of  Augustus  be- 
came centered  in  Tiberius;  but  the  union  between  him  and  Julia 
proving  fruitless,  the  emperor  began  to  look  to  her  children  by 
Agrippa  for  the  future  support  of  his  power.  At  the  time  of  Tibe- 
rius's  recall,  her  two  elder  sons,  Caius  and  Lucius,  were  about  four- 
teen and  ten  years  old  respectively.  Caius  had  already  served  his 
first  campaign.  But  the  conduct  of  Julia  now  became  so  scandalous 
that  the  emperor  was  constrained  to  banish  her  to  an  island.  It  may 
be  that  her  disgrace  was  caused  by  the  jealousy  of  Livia;  but  if 
so,  the  intrigue  was  only  half  successful,  for  the  fall  of  the  mother 
seemed  to  increase  the  grandfather's  affection    for    the    children. 


EMPIRE     UNDER     AUGUSTUS  43 

9  B.C. -6  A.  D. 

Tiberius  retired  in  disgust  to  Rhodes,  where  he  remained  for  seven 
years  in  moody  and  indolent  seclusion.  When,  tired  at  last  of  his 
self-imposed  banishment,  he  asked  permission  to  return,  the  em- 
peror coldly  forbade  him.  This  prohibition  was  afterward  with- 
drawn; but  Tiberius  was  still  excluded  from  all  public  affairs 
and  made  to  give  place  to  his  more  favored  nephews,  until  the 
premature  death  of  these  princes  rendered  his  succession  im- 
perative. 

The  position  of  the  emperor  had  become  lonely.  The  death 
of  Agrippa  had  been  followed  in  8  b.  c.  by  that  of  Maecenas.  The 
need  of  heirs  to  secure  a  peaceful  succession  to  the  Empire  was 
pressing.  Accordingly,  in  4  a.  d.,  Augustus  adopted  Tiberius  as  his 
son,  and  invested  him  with  tribunician  power,  at  the  same  time  re- 
quiring him  to  adopt  the  young  Germanicus,  together  with  his  own 
child  by  his  first  consort  Vipsania,  who  bore  the  name  of  Drusus. 
Tiberius  now  again  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  legions  in  Ger- 
many. His  campaigns  of  the  years  4  and  5  a.  d.  were  remarkable 
for  their  boldness  and  success.  Tiberius  in  person  led  his  army 
from  Aliso  to  the  Elbe,  while  a  powerful  force  was  sent  round  by 
sea  from  the  Rhine,  and,  sailing  up  the  Elbe,  effected  a  junction 
with  the  land  army.  The  Germans,  indeed,  still  pursued  their 
policy  of  refusing  a  battle,  and  thus  the  Roman  general  had  no 
victories  to  boast  of;  yet  the  influence  of  the  Empire  in  Central 
Europe  was  much  increased  by  these  repeated  advances,  and  the 
young  chiefs  of  the  German  tribes  began  to  crowd  to  Rome,  ac- 
companied by  their  followers,  there  to  learn  the  arts  of  civilization. 
Tiberius  contemplated  the  complete  subjugation  of  Germany;  but 
he  lacked  the  military  ardor  of  a  Caesar  or  a  Pompeius.  nor 
was  he  heartily  supported  by  the  emperor.  Augustus  perceived 
the  dangerous  preponderance  which  the  army  was  beginning  to 
acquire  in  the  Empire.  The  mercenary  legions  clamored  for  in- 
creased pay  and  privileges,  and  cried  out  against  their  long  deten- 
tion on  the  frontiers.  The  citizens,  content  to  live  in  idleness  on 
the  dole  of  public  corn,  grew  more  and  more  reluctant  to  en- 
dure the  hardships  and  discipline  of  the  camp.  The  soldiers  of 
the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  threatened  to  become  Rome's  direst 
enemies. 

In  6  a.  d.  Tiberius  transferred  his  own  command  from  the 
Rhine  to  the  Danube.  Starting  from  Carnuntum,  the  modern 
Presburg,  he  plunged  with  six  legions  westward   into  the  great 


44  ITALY 

6-9  A.  D. 

Hercynian  forest,  the  modern  Bohemia.  At  the  same  time  his 
lieutenant  Saturninus,  with  a  like  force,  marched  eastward  from 
the  Rhine  to  meet  him.  This  was  another  bold  and  skillful  com- 
bination which  deserves  unqualified  admiration.  It  was  on  the 
point  of  being  completed,  when  the  reported  outbreak  of  an  insur- 
rection in  Pannonia  disconcerted  the  plans  of  Tiberius.  His  first 
duty  was  to  secure  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  Empire.  Both  ar- 
mies were  ordered  to  retire  upon  their  respective  bases;  and  this 
operation  was  conducted  without  loss  or  dishonor. 

The  struggle  of  the  Pannonians,  protracted  through  three 
years,  was  formidable  enough  to  try  the  resources  of  the  Empire 
and  to  bring  discredit  upon  the  emperor  himself.  Augustus  had 
outlived  the  favor  with  which  he  had  been  so  long  regarded,  and 
he  was  harassed  by  the  scandals  brought  upon  his  family  through 
the  misconduct  of  a  younger  Julia  as  shameless  as  her  mother. 
The  exile  of  Ovid,  which  occurred  in  8  a.  d.,  was  most  likely  due 
to  a  political  intrigue,  for  which  his  friend  Maximus  suffered 
death,  and  Agrippa  Postumus  was  disgraced  and  secluded. 

The  closing  years  of  Augustus  were  further  clouded  by  a 
great  military  disaster.  The  government  of  the  half-constituted 
provinces  beyond  the  Rhine  had  been  intrusted  to  Ouintilius  Varus. 
This  officer  tried  to  rule  the  rude  Germans  by  the  subtle  system 
of  Roman  law  rather  than  by  the  sword.  His  well-meant  endeav- 
ors irritated  the  Germans  to  the  point  of  rebellion.  Headed  by 
their  hero  Arminius,  they  compelled  the  proconsul  to  take  the 
field  against  them  with  three  legions.  The  Roman  army,  en- 
tangled in  the  Teutoburg  forest  9  a.  d.,  was  utterly  routed,  the 
proconsul  slain,  and  three  eagles  captured.  The  Romans  had 
suffered  no  such  defeat  except  on  the  three  fatal  days  of  the  Allia, 
of  Cannae,  and  of  Carrhse. 

Aided  by  Tiberius,  the  emperor  gallantly  confronted  the 
danger  of  a  general  rising  in  the  north  and  of  seditions  in  the 
city.  The  Gauls  and  Germans  in  Rome  were  placed  under  strict 
control.  With  the  utmost  difficulty  fresh  troops  were  levied,  and 
after  a  whole  year  devoted  to  preparations,  Tiberius,  accompanied 
by  the  young  Germanicus,  once  more  led  the  legions  across  the 
Rhine.  This  expedition  amounted  to  little  more  than  a  military 
promenade.  The  Romans  were  now  too  wary  to  pursue  the  enemy 
into  their  forest  fastnesses.  At  the  end  of  a  few  weeks  they  retired 
behind  the  Rhine,  which  became  once  more  the  frontier  of  the  Em- 


EMPIRE     UNDER     AUGUSTUS  45 

9-14  A.  D. 

pire.  Tiberius  now  returned  to  Rome  to  celebrate  his  triumph 
over  the  Pannonians.  The  citizens  were  reassured  by  this  solem- 
nity, and,  reckless  of  recent  losses,  still  believed  in  the  in- 
vincibility of  Roman  arms.  But  the  aged  Augustus,  sunk  into  a 
state  of  nervous  despondency,  was  heard  to  exclaim,  "  Varus ! 
Varus !  give  me  back  my  legions." 

Germanicus  now  assumed  the  command  on  the  Rhine,  while 
Tiberius  was  detained  in  Rome,  and  seemed  more  than  ever  secure 
of  the  succession;  though  it  was  rumored  that  Augustus  chafed  at 
the  moroseness  of  his  temper,  and  formed  a  gloomy  augury  of  his 
career  in  power. 

Conscious  of  his  approaching  end,  the  emperor,  for  the  third 
time  during  his  reign,  ordered  a  census  of  the  Empire  to  be  taken. 
This  was  completed  in  14  a.  d.  He  spent  the  next  few  months  in 
compiling  a  brief  statement  of  his  acts,  which  has  most  fortunately 
been  preserved  to  modern  times  by  its  inscription  on  the  wall  of  a 
temple  still  standing  at  Ancyra.  This  record  extends  over  a  period 
of  fifty-eight  years,  and  details  with  simple  dignity  all  the  under- 
takings he  accomplished,  the  offices  he  served,  the  honors  he  en- 
joyed, his  liberality  and  magnificence,  his  piety  toward  the  gods, 
his  patriotism  in  behalf  of  the  city.  His  last  summer  was  spent  in 
moving  gently  from  one  villa  to  another,  until  death  laid  its  hand 
upon  him  at  Nola,  14  a.  d.  Tiberius  hurried  to  his  death-bed, 
and  Livia  gave  out,  whether  truly  or  not,  that  he  had  arrived  in 
time  to  receive  his  parting  injunctions,  and  perform  the  last  offices 
of  filial  piety.  Augustus  had  arrived  at  the  verge  of  seventy-seven, 
and  had  lived  in  safety  with  his  ambitious  consort  for  half  a 
century.  The  vulgar  surmise  that  Livia  poisoned  him  seems 
hardly  worth  a  thought,  except  to  warn  us  against  too  easy  belief 
in  many  surmises  of  the  same  sort  which  we  shall  hereafter  meet 
with. 


Chapter  VII 

THE    REIGN    OF   TIBERIUS    CiESAR.     14-37  a.  d. 

THE  Christian  era,  the  date  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  has  been 
assigned  by  the  commonly  received  chronology  to  the 
year  753  of  the  city;  but  it  is  now  ascertained  that  it 
ought  to  have  been  fixed  four  years  earlier,  that  is,  in  the  year 
5  b.  c,  or  749  u.  c,  at  which  time  Ouirinius  or  Cyrenius  was  first 
governor  of  Syria.  The  early  Christian  writers  asserted  that  at 
the  moment  of  the  Divine  Birth  all  the  world  was  at  peace.  This 
statement  can  scarcely  be  accepted  as  literally  true,  since  there 
hardly  ever  was  a  time  when,  either  on  the  frontiers  or  in  some  one 
of  the  provinces,  warlike  operations  were  not  in  progress.  Yet  the 
reign  of  Augustus  was  essentially  a  period  of  peace.  All  civil  strife 
was  at  an  end,  and  there  was  no  powerful  nation  or  state  with 
which  Rome  was  engaged  in  deadly  contest.  The  Roman  peace, 
Pax  Romana,  as  it  was  proudly  called,  reigned  over  the  vast  ex- 
tent of  the  Empire,  and  this,  when  contrasted  with  the  centuries 
of  unresting  warfare  which  had  gone  before,  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  the  minds  of  the  Romans.  The  poetry  of  the  Augustan 
Age  echoes  with  jubilant  strains  in  honor  of  it.  The  transition  of 
the  Roman  mind  from  aspirations  of  unlimited  aggression  to  views 
of  mere  repression  and  control  was  sudden,  but  not  the  less 
permanent. 

From  this  time  forth  an  attack  upon  any  foreign  power  be- 
came the  exception  to  the  settled  policy  of  the  rulers,  and  the  people 
could  hardly  be  roused  even  to  avenge  a  national  dishonor.  The 
frontiers  were  now  well  defined,  fortified,  and  garrisoned,  and  still 
further  protected  in  many  places  by  zones  of  depopulated  country, 
or  nominally  independent  states  in  their  front. 

For  forty-four  years,  from  the  battle  of  Actium  to  the  death 
of  Augustus,  the  control  of  this  vast  and  peaceful  Empire  had  been 
wielded  by  a  single  hand.  The  emperor  had  chosen  his  counsel- 
ors from  among  men  of  the  second  rank;  his  generals  from 
among  the  members  of  his  own  family.     Thus,  neither  in  the  state 

46 


TIBERIUS     CJ1SAR  47 

14-16  A.  D. 

nor  in  the  army  had  any  of  the  old  nobility  the  opportunity  of  at- 
taining to  such  prominence  as  might  have  encouraged  him  to  ad- 
vance his  claim  as  a  rival  candidate  for  the  throne.  No  attempt  of 
the  kind  was  made.  The  decease  of  Augustus  and  the  accession  of 
Tiberius  were  announced  to,  and  accepted  by,  the  soldiers.  The 
only  precaution  taken  was  to  assassinate  the  wretched  Agrippa 
Postumus  in  his  secluded  exile. 

Tiberius  at  once  summoned  the  Senate.  The  testament  of 
Augustus  declared  him  heir  to  all  his  private  fortune,  and  this  was 
readily  accepted  as  a  devolution  of  his  public  preeminence.  The 
consuls  and  all  the  officers,  both  of  the  state  and  of  the  army, 
swore  obedience  to  him  as  their  imperator.  All  the  remaining 
functions  of  imperial  power  were  heaped  upon  Tiberius,  and  after 
a  slight  show  of  resistance,  he  consented  to  become  the  chief  of 
the  Roman  people.  At  the  same  time,  first  funeral  honors,  and 
next  divine  honors,  were  eagerly  decreed  to  the  body  and  the  soul 
of  the  deceased  Augustus.  The  apotheosis  of  dead  emperors 
became  henceforth  a  recognized  institution  of  the  state. 

Before  Tiberius  was  secure  of  his  position  at  Rome,  the  dis- 
content of  the  legions  on  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine  broke  out  into 
open  mutiny.  They  complained  of  their  long  service,  their  slender 
pay,  and  the  total  lack  of  plunder.  The  emperor  dispatched  his 
son  Drusus  to  Pannonia,  and  by  the  accident  of  an  opportune 
eclipse  he  was  enabled  to  quiet  the  disturbance  with  some  slight 
concessions. 

On  the  Rhine,  Germanicus  was  placed  in  great  danger.  His 
legions  proposed  to  carry  him  in  triumph  to  Rome  and  make  him 
emperor.  He  with  difficulty  repressed  their  enthusiasm,  and,  in 
order  to  divert  their  thoughts,  led  them  into  the  heart  of  Germany 
to  recover  the  eagles  lost  by  Varus.  This  expedition,  like  so  many 
others,  returned  at  the  close  of  the  season  without  the  gain  of  any 
solid  advantage. 

Tiberius  remonstrated  with  the  young  Caesar,  who  none  the 
less  renewed  the  attempt  in  the  following  year  with  better  success. 
On  this  occasion  the  resistance  offered  by  Arminius  was  weakened 
by  tribal  dissensions.  The  land  and  sea  armaments  united  their 
forces,  and  were  able  to  visit  the  scene  of  the  disaster  in  the  Teuto- 
burg  forest,  where  they  buried  the  corpses  of  their  countrymen  and 
recovered  two  of  the  eagles  lost  by  Varus.  Next  spring  Germani- 
cus   made    a    third    campaign    over    the    same    ground,    in    the 


48  ITALY 

16-19   A.    D. 

course  of  which  he  recovered  the  last  of  the  Varian  eagles,  and 
succeeded  in  defeating  the  full  force  of  Arminius  in  a  pitched  bat- 
tle. In  both  these  campaigns  heavy  loss  was  suffered  by  the  de- 
tachment of  Roman  troops  which  returned  from  the  war  by  sea; 
and  Tiberius  complained,  with  increasing  vehemence,  of  these  ex- 
pensive and  bootless  enterprises. 

Germanicus  had  proved  himself  an  able  general,  yet  his  recall 
from  his  northern  command  was  determined  on.  The  provinces 
of  Asia  needed  the  presence  of  a  proconsul  of  more  than  usual 
dignity.  Cappadocia  and  Commagene  were  to  be  reduced  to  the 
form  of  provinces.  Syria  and  Judaea  were  uneasy  under  the 
weight  of  their  taxation.  The  Parthians  would  be  more  loyal  to 
their  engagements  if  they  were  once  more  overawed  by  the  pres- 
ence of  a  near  relative  of  the  emperor's,  the  vicegerent  and 
representative  of  his  father's  majesty  and  power. 

Germanicus  not  unwillingly  undertook  this  Oriental  mission, 
visiting  with  interest  the  celebrated  sites  of  Greece  and  Western 
Asia,  and  winning  the  good-will  of  everybody  by  his  gentleness 
and  affability.  After  placing  the  diadem  on  the  head  of  the 
Armenian  king  in  his  own  capital,  and  settling  the  affairs  of 
Commagene  and  Cappadocia,  he  amused  himself  with  a  tour 
through  Egypt.  Throughout  this  prolonged  journey  he  was  ac- 
companied and  jealously  watched  by  Cnseus  Piso,  a  noble  of  high 
rank,  appointed  by  the  emperor  with  the  title  of  adjutor.  On  his 
return  from  Egypt,  Germanicus  sickened  and  died  of  a  wasting 
illness.  The  people,  who  loved  him  as  heartily  as  they  detested 
Tiberius,  were  fully  persuaded  that  he  had  been  poisoned ;  and 
when  it  was  found  that  Piso  had  profited  by  the  death  of  his  su- 
perior to  seize  upon  his  vacant  appointment,  that  noble  was 
promptly  summoned  to  appear  before  the  Senate  and  justify  his 
conduct.  Piso  returned  to  stand  his  trial ;  but  when  the  time  came 
for  him  to  make  his  defense,  he  was  found  dead,  with  his  throat 
cut  and  his  bloody  sword  beside  him.  There  seems  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  he  committed  suicide,  but  popular  rumor  asserted  that 
Tiberius  had  caused  him  to  be  assassinated  to  silence  any  testimony 
against  himself. 

The  death  of  Piso  points  our  attention  to  the  antagonism 
which  now  began  to  make  itself  felt  between  the  old  aristocracy  of 
the  Republic  and  the  growing  power  of  the  Empire.  The  number 
of  these  illustrious  families  had  been  greatly  thinned  by  the  civil 


TIBERIUS     CESAR  49 

19-23  A.  D. 

wars;  the  pride  and  self-assertion  of  those  who  survived  were  only 
the  more  intensified.  To  an  iEmilius,  a  Calpurnius,  a  Lepidus,  or  a 
Piso,  the  son  of  Octavius  was  no  more  than  a  plebeian  imperator 
raised  to  power  by  the  breath  of  the  commonalty.  His  pretensions 
to  legitimate  right  they  despised  and  repudiated.  Each  of  them 
conceived  that  he  had  as  good  or  better  right  to  rule  than  the  up- 
start whom  fortune  had  placed  in  the  ascendant.  Piso  doubtless 
deemed  himself  at  least  the  natural  equal  of  Tiberius. 

Against  the  intrigues  of  these  discontented  nobles  the  em- 
perors found  it  necessary  to  defend  themselves  by  special  measures 
of  repression.  Fifty  years  before  the  foundation  of  the  Empire  a 
law  of  majesty  had  been  enacted  for  the  protection  of  the  tribunes. 
Any  attack  upon  the  person  or  the  dignity  of  the  tribune  was  de- 
clared to  be  an  assault  upon  the  majesty  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
was  punished  as  treason  against  the  state.  Of  this  law  Augustus 
availed  himself  to  prevent  the  publication  of  pasquinades  against 
the  emperor,  as  well  as  to  repress  more  serious  attempts  at  sedition. 
Under  Tiberius,  however,  the  position  of  the  emperor  came  to  be 
regarded  with  increasing  adulation,  as  one  altogether  sacred  and 
apart  from  common  men  as  that  of  the  gods  on  Olympus.  Not 
only  attempts  on  the  life  of  the  emperor,  but  any  words  or  writings 
which  detracted  from  his  unapproachable  dignity,  were  treated  as 
heinous  crimes  only  to  be  compared  with  sacrilege.  To  inquire  of 
a  soothsayer  into  the  years  of  the  emperor  was  made  treasonable; 
to  speak  a  disrespectful  or  abusive  word  against  the  emperor  was 
equally  so. 

When  to  a  law  of  this  sweeping  nature  was  added  a  system  of 
spying  and  informing,  which  was  set  on  foot  and  encouraged  by 
Tiberius,  it  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  during  his  reign  many  of 
the  nobles,  both  men  and  women,  fell  under  its  severe  penalties. 
The  informers  were  rewarded  with  a  large  share  of  the  confiscated 
fortunes  of  their  victims ;  and  so  degraded  were  many  of  the  nobles 
that  they  did  not  scruple  to  acquire  wealth  in  this  way  by  preying 
upon  their  own  order.  By  such  mean  and  crafty  devices  Tiberius 
was  enabled  to  mask  for  a  time,  under  the  forms  of  justice,  the 
studied  cruelty  with  which  he  broke  down  the  independence  of  the 
class  he  feared  and  hated.  "  Greed,  hatred,  enjoyment  of  blood- 
shed,— in  brief,  all  vicious  and  criminal  passions  were  at  their 
height  under  the  early  Empire." 

Conscious  of  his  own  lack  of  commanding  ability,  morose  and 


50  ITALY 

23-29   A.  D. 

reserved  by  temperament,  the  emperor  was  intensely  jealous  of  all 
who  possessed  the  qualities  in  which  he  was  most  deficient.  This 
feeling,  soothed  for  a  time  by  the  death  of  the  gallant  and  popular 
Germanicus,  was  soon  revived  against  his  widow  Agrippina,  who 
stood  no  less  high  in  popular  favor.  His  own  son  Drusus,  though 
constantly  employed  in  military  affairs,  was  not  loved  by  the  Ro- 
man people,  nor  did  the  emperor  regard  him  with  any  confidence 
or  affection.  Tiberius  had  indeed  recalled  him  to  Rome,  and  by 
conferring  on  him  both  the  consulship  and  the  tribunician  power, 
had  virtually  associated  him  with  himself  in  the  Empire.  But  it 
was  not  on  Drusus  that  he  really  leaned  for  support.  The  man  on 
whom  the  emperor  relied  as  his  intimate  counselor  and  useful  in- 
strument was  yElius  Sejanus,  the  captain  of  the  praetorian  guards, 
a  courtier  of  no  high  distinction  in  birth,  accomplishments,  or 
abilities — perhaps  preferred  for  this  very  want  of  distinction. 

Sejanus  conceived  the  daring  ambition  of  securing  to  himself 
the  succession  to  the  imperial  throne.  To  effect  this  object,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  destroy  all  the  branches  of  the  imperial  fam- 
ily who  might  have  legitimate  claims  to  it.  He  began  by  removing 
Drusus  by  poison,  having  first  debauched  his  wife  Livilla,  whom 
he  hoped  to  marry  after  her  husband's  death,  and  so  raise  himself 
into  the  line  of  succession.  He  further  fomented  his  master's  ill- 
feeling  against  Agrippina  and  her  family,  to  whom  he  imputed  a 
spirit  of  restless  intrigue.  Lastly,  he  exerted  all  his  influence  to 
induce  the  emperor  to  withdraw  from  the  vexations  of  public  life 
at  Rome  to  the  voluptuous  retreat  of  Capreae,  and  to  leave  in  his 
minister's  hands  the  entire  control  of  state  affairs. 

One  good  influence  still  exercised  some  restraint  over  the 
mind  of  Tiberius,  distracted  by  fears  and  jealousies — that  of  his 
mother  Livia.  To  her  adroitness  throughout  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus, and  especially  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  he  undoubtedly 
owed  his  own  elevation.  His  obligations  to  her  he  had  always 
acknowledged  to  the  extent  of  almost  allowing  her  to  share  his 
power.  It  is  probably  to  her  influence  that  we  may  attribute  his 
one  act  of  justice  to  the  family  of  Germanicus  in  marrying  that 
prince's  daughter,  a  younger  Agrippina,  to  Cn.  Domitius  Aheno- 
barbus.     From  this  union  sprung  the  future  Emperor  Nero. 

The  elder  Agrippina  continued  to  live  in  constant  fear  of  the 
tyrant,  which  her  high  spirit  did  not  suffer  her  to  conceal. 

Tiberius  at  length  rebelled  against    the    pretensions    of    his 


TIBERIUS    CLAl'DIL'S    N'ERO    CAESAR 

(  Horn    42    r.  c.      Died    37    A.  i>. ) 

fl!iA'(    111    the   Xatioiial   Mus.-mn,    Wifl.-s 


TIBERIUS     CJESAR  51 

29-31   A.  D. 

mother,  and  mustered  courage  to  forbid  her  to  take  part  in  public 
affairs,  while  he  withdrew  himself  to  Caprese,  and  left  Sejanus  in 
sole  possession  of  all  ostensible  power. 

At  last  Livia  died  in  her  eighty-second,  or,  as  some  compute, 
in  her  eighty-sixth,  year.  Tiberius  scarcely  disguised  his  satisfac- 
tion, took  no  part  in  the  funeral,  and  forbade  her  deification,  which 
the  Senate  had  obsequiously  proposed. 

Released  from  her  restraining  influence,  he  fell  more  than 
ever  into  the  hands  of  his  minister.  The  first  act  which  marked 
this  change  for  the  worse  was  the  dispatch  of  a  harsh  letter  to  the 
Senate  denouncing  the  elder  Agrippina  and  her  son  Nero,  but 
leaving  the  assembly  to  guess  what  measures  would  be  most  pleas- 
ing to  its  master.  The  people  thronged  about  the  Senate-house, 
protesting  that  the  letter  was  a  forgery,  and  a  foul  conspiracy  of 
Sejanus.  The  latter,  however,  profited  by  this  movement  to  excite 
the  fears  of  Tiberius,  and  induce  him  to  command  an  inquiry  into 
the  political  conduct  of  the  widow  and  her  children.  Accusers  were 
readily  found ;  the  trial  was  hurried  through,  and  both  mother  and 
son  were  banished  to  the  barren  islands  of  Pandateria  and  Pontia. 
Agrippina  is  said  to  have  resisted  the  attempt  to  remove  her,  and  to 
have  lost  an  eye  in  the  struggle.  Two  other  of  her  sons.  Drusus 
and  Caius,  still  remained,  and  these  Tiberius  retained  about  his 
own  person  at  Capreae;  but  at  the  suggestion  of  Sejanus,  one  of 
them,  Drusus,  was  soon  after  dismissed  from  the  island,  and 
imprisoned  in  a  dungeon  at  Rome. 

Many  of  Agrippina's  friends  now  fell  under  proscription, 
while  Sejanus  seemed  to  be  advancing  in  his  audacious  projects, 
and  rising  still  higher  in  favor.  He  was  appointed  consul  jointly 
with  the  emperor,  and  encouraged  to  hope  for  a  marriage  with 
Livilla.  The  people  whispered  that  Sejanus  was  emperor  of  Rome, 
while  Tiberius  was  lord  of  one  island  only.  The  senators  crowded 
about  the  leader  of  their  debates  with  every  demonstration  of  de- 
votion, and  when  they  decreed  him  consular  powers  for  five  years, 
he  regarded  it  as  a  surrender  of  the  government  into  his  hands. 

Tiberius,  however,  was  becoming  afraid  of  a  favorite  who 
had  grown  too  powerful,  and  had  already  determined  to  overthrow 
him.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  months  he  resigned  the  consulship, 
and  required  Sejanus  to  do  the  same.  He  then  announced  his  in- 
tention to  visit  Rome,  and  so  played  upon  the  fears  and  ambitions 
of  his  minister  as  to  goad  him  into  forming  a  plot  for  the  emperor's 


52  ITALY 

31-33    A.  D. 

assassination.  Tiberius  obtained  proofs  of  this  conspiracy,  and 
then  took  into  his  confidence  Macro,  an  officer  of  his  bodyguard, 
whom  he  commissioned  to  take  command  of  the  praetorian  guard. 
He  further  directed  him  to  confer  with  the  consuls,  and  to  have 
the  Senate  convened.  At  this  sitting  a  long  and  rambling  letter 
from  the  emperor  was  read,  in  the  course  of  which  he  complained 
of  the  solitude  of  the  poor  old  Caesar  and  his  precarious  position, 
and  required  one  of  the  consuls  to  bring  a  military  force  to  Capreae 
and  escort  him  to  the  city.  The  letter,  after  wandering  from  one 
subject  to  another,  suddenly  closed  with  an  appeal  to  the  consul  to 
arrest  Sejanus  as  a  traitor.  The  ex-minister  found  himself  hustled 
and  seized  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Senate;  Macro  had  already  taken 
command  of  the  praetorian  guard,  and,  without  further  delay, 
Sejanus  was  dragged  to  the  Mamertine  prison,  and  there  strangled. 
His  remains  were  afterward  cast  out  and  publicly  insulted  in  the 
streets,  and  his  family  and  friends  shared  his  fate  in  a  general 
massacre. 

Tiberius  watched  for  the  telegraphic  signals  from  Rome  in  an 
agony  of  suspense.  The  swiftest  triremes  lay  ready  to  waft  him  to 
Gaul  or  Syria,  should  his  combinations  be  frustrated.  Even  when 
he  knew  that  his  orders  had  been  executed,  he  still  lingered  for 
months  upon  his  lonely  rock,  while  a  relentless  proscription  was 
carried  on  by  the  Senate  against  all  who  could  be  deemed  his 
enemies. 

Early  the  following  year,  32  a.  d.,  Tiberius  crossed  the  nar- 
row strait  which  divides  Capreae  from  the  mainland  at  Surrentum. 
and  began  his  progress  to  Rome.  The  citizens  joyfully  prepared 
to  welcome  their  emperor  in  their  midst,  but  were  rather  astonished 
to  learn  that  he  had  left  the  land,  and  was  advancing  in  a  galley 
up  the  Tiber,  preceded  by  guards  who  rudely  cleared  away  all 
spectators  from  the  banks.  In  this  strange  fashion  he  arrived  at 
Caesar's  gardens;  but  no  sooner  did  he  find  himself  once  more 
beneath  the  hills  of  Rome  than  he  turned  his  prow  without  land- 
ing, and  never  paused  in  his  retreat  till  he  had  regained  his  island. 
The  Romans  were  intensely  mortified  by  this  proceeding.  Their 
indignation  and  disgust  broke  forth  in  loud  murmurs  against  the 
emperor. 

It  has  been  conjectured  with  much  probability  that  the  strange 
conduct  of  Tiberius  may  have  been  due  to  a  taint  of  hereditary  in- 
sanity in  the  blood  of  the  Claudii.  which  had  been  wont  to  break 


TIBERIUS     CESAR  53 

32-36  A.  D. 

out  in  that  family  during  many  generations  either  in  the  form  of 
extravagant  pride  or  ungovernable  violence.  The  ancients,  how- 
ever, considered  that  the  morbid  ferocity  and  unhappiness  of  this 
emperor  were  simply  the  natural  penalty  of  the  evil  and  licentious 
life  which  he  led.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Tiberius  was  not  alone  in  his 
despairing  and  miserable  frame  of  mind.  Some  of  the  noblest 
Romans  of  his  time  were  driven  to  suicide  by  a  similar  feeling  of 
degradation  and  despair.  Cocceius  Nerva,  a  man  of  the  highest 
character  and  attainments,  occupying  a  high  position  in  the  state, 
enjoying  a  flourishing  fortune  and  perfect  health,  deliberately 
starved  himself  to  death.  Arruntius  and  others  imitated  his  ex- 
ample. This  form  of  death  was  also  imposed  by  the  tyrant  upon 
the  young  Drusus,  who  had  for  some  time  languished  in  the  dun- 
geons of  the  imperial  palace,  and  was  voluntarily  chosen  by 
Agrippina  as  the  only  escape  from  the  miseries  and  bereavements 
of  her  life  in  exile.  It  was  thus  through  his  own  perverseness  and 
cruelty  that  Tiberius,  as  he  approached  the  end  of  his  life,  found 
himself  supported  by  only  three  surviving  males  of  the  lineage  of 
Caesar,  and  none  of  these  gave  any  promise  of  political  ability,  or 
had  received  any  training  in  public  life.  Among  these  three 
princes,  who  all  stood  in  the  position  of  his  adopted  sons,  he 
must  choose  his  successor.  They  were  as  follows :  ( i )  Tiberius 
Claudius  Drusus,  born  10  b.  c. — nephew  of  the  emperor,  and  son 
of  the  elder  Germanicus.  He  was  reputed  weak  in  mind,  and  had 
been  excluded  from  public  life  by  Augustus;  he  was,  however,  fond 
of  books  and  literary  pursuits.  He  afterward  became  the  Emperor 
Claudius.  (2)  Caius,  the  younger  son  of  Germanicus  and  Agrip- 
pina, born  12  a.  d. — a  favorite  with  the  legions  for  his  father's 
sake,  and  nicknamed  by  them  Caligula,  from  the  military  buskin 
(caliga)  which  he  wore  as  a  child  in  the  Rhenish  camps.  During 
his  long  residence  in  the  palace  at  Capreae  he  learned  to  dissemble, 
and  by  patient  and  obsequious  service  disarmed  the  jealousy  of  his 
great-uncle.  He  afterward  became  the  Emperor  Caligula.  (3) 
Tiberius,  surnamed  Gemellus,  born  19  a.  d.,  son  of  the  younger 
Drusus,  who  was  starved  in  the  vaults  of  the  Palatine,  and  nephew 
of  Caligula.  He  was  made  co-heir,  with  Caligula,  of  the  emperor's 
property,  but  soon  after  the  accession  of  the  latter  was  put  to  death 
by  his  order. 

As  the  end  of  Tiberius  drew  near,  he  became  more  and  more 
dependent  upon  Macro,    the   captain    of    his    bodyguard ;    but    he 


54  ITALY 

36-37  A.  D. 

steadily  refused  to  nominate  an  heir  to  the  Empire  for  fear  his 
officers  should  transfer  their  devotion  from  himself  to  his  destined 
successor.  When  at  length  he  lay  in  a  state  of  torpor  resembling 
death,  it  is  said  that  Macro  made  sure  of  the  tyrant's  departure  by 
having  him  smothered  under  blankets.  His  death  occurred  on 
March  16,  37  a.  d. 

The  character  of  Tiberius  was  execrated  by  the  Romans. 
"  Not  that  he  was  especially  cruel  or  vicious.  .  .  .  He  was 
unsocial,    tactless,    and   economical, — qualities   which   would   have 


made  any  emperor  unpopular.''  The  imperial  arms,  though  little 
exercised,  were  everywhere  respected.  The  embers  of  agitation  in 
Africa  and  Gaul  were  quietly  extinguished.  The  manners  and  arts 
of  Rome  extended  their  sway  year  by  year  deeper  into  the  heart 
of  Germany.  The  Parthians  were  overawed.  Palestine  was  an- 
nexed, and  the  Jews  found  the  imperial  rule  far  more  mild  and 
equable  than  that  of  their  own  princes  had  been.  In  one  important 
particular  Tiberius  changed  the  system  under  which  the  provinces 
of  the  Empire  were  governed.  It  had  been  the  practice  to  change 
the  proconsuls  after  two  or  three  years  of  office.  Tiberius  left  them 
sometimes  unchanged  for  many  years  together;  and  to  this  cause, 
more  perhaps  than  any  other,  we  may  attribute  the  exceptional 
felicity  enjoyed  by  the  Roman  Empire  during  his  reign. 


Chapter    VIII 

THE   REIGNS   OF   CAIUS   CALIGULA  AND   CLAUDIUS 

37-54  a.  d. 

AT  the  age  of  twenty-five  Caius  Caesar,  commonly  known  as 
Caligula,  assumed  the  reins  of  power.  Young,  hand- 
-  some,  and  courteous,  though  utterly  inexperienced,  he  was 
eagerly  welcomed  by  the  Senate,  the  army,  and  the  people.  His 
weakly  constitution,  his  liability  to  fits,  and  the  feverish  excitabil- 
ity of  his  brain  render  it  probable  that  his  Claudian  blood  carried 
with  it  the  germs  of  insanity.  But  at  the  outset  of  his  career  all 
men  were  charmed  by  the  generosity  and  modesty  of  his  conduct. 
After  promising  ample  largesses  to  the  people  and  the  soldiers,  he 
proclaimed  an  amnesty  to  all  political  prisoners  and  exiles.  He 
publicly  burned  the  informations  put  into  his  hands  by  the  spies 
and  sycophants  of  the  previous  reign,  and  proscribed  their  vicious 
authors.  He  allowed  the  political  writings  which  had  been  sup- 
pressed by  the  Senate  to  be  freely  circulated.  He  revised  the  roll 
of  the  Senate  and  the  knights,  bestowing  his  favor  on  those  most 
worthy  of  it.  Lastly,  he  earned  the  popular  applause  by  the  piety 
with  which  he  conveyed  the  ashes  of  his  mother  and  brother  from 
their  lonely  resting-places  to  the  mausoleum  of  Augustus.  It  was 
a  relief  to  the  citizens  that  he  did  not  insist  on  the  deification  of  the 
hated  Tiberius. 

On  assuming  the  consulship  he  promised  to  devote  himself  to 
public  business,  and  during  the  next  two  months  his  just  and  lib- 
eral measures  proved  that  he  had  redeemed  his  pledge.  On  the 
arrival  of  his  birthday  on  August  i  this  industry  was  exchanged 
for  profuse  and  magnificent  hospitality,  at  which  the  emperor  him- 
self presided,  with  his  sisters  at  his  side.  Business  henceforth  gave 
place  to  enjoyment.  With  a  wild  frenzy  of  delight  he  plunged  into 
gross  and  voluptuous  dissipation,  which  soon  upset  his  weak  con- 
stitution and  laid  him  on  a  sick-bed  in  imminent  danger  of  death. 
The  interest  taken  in  his  health,  the  anxiety  shown  for  his  recovery, 
turned  his  weak  head,  and  filled  him  with  exaggerated  notions 

55 


56  ITALY 

37-39    A.  D. 

of  the  importance  and  sacredness  of  his  life.  His  first  act  on 
recovering  was  to  put  to  death  his  nephew  Tiberius. 

Macro,  the  praetorian  captain,  had  introduced  him  as  emperor 
to  the  army  and  to  the  Senate,  and  had  since  then  steadfastly  sup- 
ported him.  Macro's  wife,  Ennia,  had  surrendered  herself  to  his 
passion.  These  two  were  next  executed  by  his  order  without  trial 
of  any  kind.  The  illustrious  Silanus,  whose  daughter  the  emperor 
had  married,  was  recalled  from  Africa,  arraigned  on  some  charge, 
and  summarily  ordered  to  kill  himself.  These  cruel  deeds  were 
most  likely  prompted  by  the  requirements  of  his  reckless  extrava- 
gance. 

The  death  of  his  sister,  Drusilla,  with  whom  he  carried  on  an 
incestuous  commerce,  further  embittered  him,  and  drove  him  on  to 
madness.  After  decreeing  to  her  divine  honors  by  the  name  of 
Panthea,  the  crazy  monster  declared  that  if  any  man  dared  to 
mourn  for  her  death,  he  should  be  punished,  for  she  had  become 
a  goddess;  if  anyone  rejoiced  at  her  deification,  he  should  be 
punished  also,  for  she  was  dead. 

This  incident  illustrates  the  logical  character  of  Caligula's 
mind,  which  frankly  asserted  itself  in  his  system  of  government. 
Augustus  and  Tiberius  had  learned  in  the  school  of  experience  to 
indulge  their  subjects  with  a  pretense  of  independence.  Caius 
knew  himself  to  be  the  master  of  a  nation  of  slaves,  and  it  pleased 
him  to  assert  his  autocracy  openly,  in  Oriental  fashion,  such  as  he 
had  learned  from  Herod  Agrippa,  King  of  Judaea,  with  whom  he 
was  brought  up  in  the  palace  of  Tiberius.  It  pleased  him  also  that 
everything  about  him  should  be  on  a  grand  imperial  scale.  He 
completed  the  temple  of  Augustus,  restored  the  theater  of  Pompey, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  an  amphitheater  of  his  own.  He  de- 
signed and  began  the  noble  aqueduct  called  Aqua  Claudia,  a  work 
of  manifest  utility,  whose  ruins  still  bear  witness  to  its  splendor. 
One  of  his  extravagant  freaks  was  the  throwing  of  a  bridge  or 
gallery  from  his  own  residence  on  the  Palatine  across  the  valley  to 
the  Capitol,  in  order,  as  he  said,  that  he  might  be  next  neighbor  to 
Jupiter,  with  whom  he  claimed  equal  divinity.  A  similar  under- 
taking was  the  construction  of  a  bridge  across  the  bay  of  Baiae 
from  Bauli  to  Puteoli.  A  spit  of  land  already  existed  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  mole  1200  feet  long  on  the  other.  These  two  points 
were  connected  by  a  bridge  of  boats,  and  across  the  causeway  so 
constructed  the  emperor  led  a  body  of  troops  in  triumph.    The 


CALIGULA     AND     CLAUDIUS  57 

39-40  A.  D. 

show  was  witnessed  by  a  crowd  of  spectators,  many  of  whom  fell 
into  the  water  and  were  drowned,  the  emperor,  it  is  asserted,  being 
delighted  by  the  accident,  and  forbidding  them  to  be  rescued. 

Tasteless  extravagance  was  now  the  order  of  the  day,  and 
nowhere  more  so  than  at  the  tables  of  the  rich.  Dishes  of  costly 
rarity  were  sought  for,  such  as  peacocks,  nightingales,  and  the 
tongues  and  brains  of  phsenicopters  (possibly  flamingoes).  Caius 
is  reported  to  have  spent  as  much  as  $400,000  on  a  single  feast,  ex- 
claiming, at  its  conclusion,  "  A  man  should  be  frugal  except  he  be 
a  Caesar."  His  vanity  led  him  to  aim  at  preeminence  not  only  in 
gluttony,  but  also  in  charioteering  and  in  oratory.  Envious  of  the 
fame  of  the  ancient  heroes  of  the  Republic,  he  cast  down  their 
statues,  and  deprived  the  images  of  illustrious  houses  of  their  dis- 
tinguishing marks,  the  Cincinnati  of  their  ringlets,  the  Torquati  of 
their  golden  collars.  He  forbade  the  last  descendant  of  the  great 
Pompeius  to  bear  the  surname  of  Magnus ;  and  he  rejected 
with  contumely  the  works  of  Virgil  and  Livy  from  the  public 
libraries. 

From  such  unworthy  acts  of  brutality  he  roused  himself,  in 
the  year  39  a.  d.,  to  undertake  a  spirited  enterprise.  Lentulus  Gae- 
tulicus,  proconsul  of  the  Rhenish  provinces,  had  defied  Tiberius,  and 
refused  to  surrender  his  command.  It  is  probable  that  he  was  en- 
gaged in  a  conspiracy  with  persons  of  distinction  at  Rome  against 
the  new  emperor.  Caius,  however,  marched  into  Gaul,  and  to  the 
frontier  of  the  Rhine,  put  down  the  plot,  cut  off  the  leaders  of  it, 
and  banished  his  own  sisters,  whom  he  found  to  be  implicated. 

In  the  following  year  he  announced  his  intention  of  invading 
Britain.  At  Gessoriacum  (Boulogne)  he  marshaled  his  legions, 
and  reviewed  them  from  a  galley  at  sea ;  then  the  trumpets 
sounded,  and  the  emperor  issued  the  absurd  command  to  pile  arms 
and  pick  up  shells  on  the  beach.  These  "  spoils  of  the  ocean,"  as 
Caius  called  them,  were  forwarded  to  the  Senate  at  Rome,  with  the 
order  to  deposit  them  among  the  treasures  of  the  Capitol. 

Having  thus,  as  he  pretended,  reduced  the  ocean  to  submis- 
sion, he  returned  to  Rome  to  celebrate  a  gorgeous  triumph.  As 
he  approached  the  city,  he  learned  that  the  Senate  had  failed  to 
pass  the  necessary  decrees ;  and,  filled  with  fury  against  that  body, 
he  gave  up  the  idea  of  a  triumph.  His  treatment  of  the  nobles 
now  became  unbearably  insolent.  One  day  he  threatened  to  make 
his  horse  a  consul.     Another,  he  laughingly  suggested  to  the  con- 


58  ITALY 

40-41    A.  D. 

suls  as  a  good  joke,  that  with  one  word  he  could  cause  their  heads 
to  roll  on  the  floor. 

The  end  of  this  monstrous  principate  was  drawing  near,  not 
from  general  indignation  of  the  Senate  or  people,  but  from  resent- 
ment at  a  private  affront.  Cassius  Chaerea,  a  tribune  of  the  prae- 
torians, vowed  vengeance  on  the  emperor  for  some  gibe  with  which 
he  had  lightly  stung  him.  Associates  who  had  grievances  to 
avenge  were  soon  found,  and  the  conspirators  only  waited  for  the 
propitious  moment  to  strike  the  blow.  Four  days  did  Caius  pre- 
side at  the  theater  surrounded  by  the  men  who  had  sworn  to  slay 
him.  At  last,  as  he  was  passing  through  a  vaulted  passage  from 
the  palace  to  the  circus,  Chaerea  and  another  tribune,  Sabinus,  fell 
upon  him  and  struck  him  down.  Others  of  the  party  kept  off  the 
German  bodyguards  till  he  had  been  dispatched  with  thirty 
wounds.  The  assassins  all  escaped,  and  the  body  was  hastily 
buried,  41  a.  d.  The  Senate,  to  which  the  tyrant's  death  was 
promptly  announced,  was  thrown  into  confusion,  and  undecided 
how  to  act.  They  could  only  agree  to  destroy  the  infant  child  of 
the  late  Caesar  and  its  mother  Caesonia,  for  they  wanted  to  restore 
the  Republic.  The  decision,  however,  was  taken  out  of  their  hands. 
Some  of  the  guards  roaming  through  the  palace  discovered,  hiding 
behind  a  curtain,  a  person  whom  they  recognized  as  Claudius,  the 
uncle  of  their  murdered  chief.  The  existence  of  these  guards  de- 
pended on  the  maintenance  of  the  imperial  regime.  They  led 
him,  more  dead  than  alive  with  fear,  to  the  camp  of  the  praetorians, 
and  demanded  a  largess.  He  promised  lavishly.  Then  the  sol- 
diers bore  him  on  their  shoulders  to  the  curia,  and  required  the 
senators  to  accept  him  as  the  last  living  representative  of  the 
Caesars.  All  opposition  quailed  before  the  will  of  the  soldiers ; 
the  offices  and  honors  of  the  Empire  were  at  once  heaped  upon  the 
man  who,  up  to  that  day,  had  been  deemed  unfit  to  discharge  the 
meanest  functions  of  civil  or  military  government.  Any  transient 
hope  of  restoring  the  Republic  collapsed.  The  treasury  and  the 
granaries  were  empty;  and  if  Rome  did  not  appoint  an  emperor, 
she  must  accept  a  dictator. 

Claudius  at  once  avenged  his  nephew's  death  by  the  execution 
of  Chaerea  and  Sabinus,  but  his  timid  nature  shrunk  from  blood- 
shedding,  and  he  preferred  to  propitiate  his  nobles  rather  than 
attempt  to  crush  them.  He  was  careful,  however,  to  secure  his 
own  life.     Thus  reassured,  Claudius  proclaimed  an  amnesty  to  all 


CALIGULA     AND     CLAUDIUS  59 

41-43  A.  D. 

political  exiles,  and  displayed  in  many  particulars  a  kind  and  gen- 
erous spirit.  He  favored  the  provinces  and  thus,  like  Julius  Caesar, 
he  tended  to  equalize  the  position  of  all  his  subjects. 

Claudius  began  at  once  to  devote  his  time  and  his  powers  to 
the  public  service.  Though  his  wits  may  have  been  slow,  his  in- 
dustry was  untiring  and  his  zeal  sincere.  In  the  administration 
of  justice  he  would  tire  out  his  legal  assessors  by  his  unwearied 
application  to  business.  If  some  of  his  measures  were  pedantic 
and  old-fashioned,  others  displayed  a  breadth  of  view  and  liberal- 
ity of  spirit  unknown  since  the  time  of  the  great  Julius.  In  the 
control  of  the  provincial  governors,  and  the  vindication  of  the 
majesty  of  Rome  on  all  the  frontiers  of  the  Empire,  he  was  no  less 
successful.  But  his  most  brilliant  enterprise  was  the  invasion  and 
actual  subjugation  of  Britain.  In  the  year  43  a.  d.  Aulus  Plautius 
landed  with  four  legions,  probably  on  the  coast  of  Kent,  and  hav- 
ing overcome  all  resistance,  crossed  the  Thames  into  the  country 
of  the  Trinobantes,  who  occupied  Essex  and  Hertfordshire.  Here 
the  emperor  joined  the  army,  and  so  active  were  his  movements 
that  within  sixteen  days  he  had  subdued  this  people  and  planted 
a  colony,  Camulodunum  (now  Colchester),  on  the  site  of  their 
capital. 

Claudius  then  returned  at  once  to  Rome,  but  his  lieutenants 
continued  to  prosecute  the  conquest  with  success.  Vespasianus 
reduced  the  western  country  as  far  as  the  Exe  and  the  Severn. 
Ostorius  Scapula  advanced  to  the  Wye  and  the  foot  of  the  Welsh 
Mountains.  The  Britons,  headed  by  Caractacus,  made  a  gallant 
but  fruitless  resistance.  They  were  utterly  routed,  and  their  leader, 
who  had  escaped  from  the  field,  was  soon  after  betrayed  to  the 
Romans,  and  carried  off  to  Rome  to  figure  in  the  triumph  which 
Claudius  had  justly  earned.  This  triumph  was  conducted  after  a 
new  fashion.  In  the  course  of  it  the  captive  Caractacus  was  al- 
lowed to  address  the  emperor  in  a  speech  not  unworthy  of  a  pa- 
triot; and  the  latter,  to  his  credit,  spared  his  prisoner's  life. 

In  the  East  Claudius  effected  a  new  settlement  of  the  frontier 
provinces.  Many  suppliant  princes  who  had  thronged  the  court 
of  Tiberius  and  Caius  were  sent  off  to  govern  their  native  realms 
in  dependence  upon  the  sovereign  Empire.  Among  these  was 
Herod  Agrippa,  who  was  not  only  confirmed  in  his  sway  over 
Galilee,  but  received  in  addition  the  province  of  Palestine.  The 
Jews,  who  had  been  on  the  brink  of  rebellion,  owing  to  the  threat 


60  ITALY 

43-49  A.   D. 

of  Caius  to  set  up  his  statue  in  their  Temple,  were  pleased  with 
this  concession,  and  celebrated  the  return  of  Agrippa  to  Jerusalem 
as  a  national  triumph.  The  reign  of  Herod  was  not  of  long  dura- 
tion. In  the  following  year,  44  a.  d.,  at  Csesarea,  after  address- 
ing the  people,  he  was  saluted  by  the  Hellenizing  section  of  them 
as  a  god.  His  death  by  a  terrible  disease  followed  within  a  few 
days ;  his  son  was  retained  in  Italy  as  a  hostage,  and  Judaea  became 
once  more  part  of  the  proconsular  province  of  Syria.  For  several 
generations  the  Jews  had  been  accustomed  to  roam  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  their  own  country.  Wherever  trade  was  active, 
in  the  great  cities  of  the  Euphrates,  in  Alexandria,  in  the  ports  of 
Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  they  had  settled  in  large  numbers. 

It  is  important  to  observe  here  that  the  materials  for  the 
history  of  this  period  are  far  from  trustworthy.  Even  the  great 
Tacitus  is  not  to  be  implicitly  relied  on.  There  is  distinct  reason 
to  believe  that  the  affairs  of  Claudius  were  studiously  misrepre- 
sented. The  most  popular  account  of  them  was  derived  from  the 
scandalous  memoirs  of  Agrippina,  which  were  greedily  accepted 
and  repeated  by  the  ribald  anecdotists  of  the  next  generation.  Her 
aim  in  writing  them  seems  to  have  been  to  blast  the  fame  of  Mes- 
salina  (whose  vacant  place  she  filled),  to  discredit  Claudius,  and 
to  magnify  her  own  merits  and  those  of  her  son  Nero. 

On  the  death  of  Messalina  there  ensued  a  great  struggle  in 
the  palace  for  the  succession  to  the  imperial  couch.  Claudius  had 
allowed  the  management  of  affairs  to  fall,  for  the  most  part,  into 
the  hands  of  freedmen,  all  of  whom  were  of  Greek  origin.  Nar- 
cissus, Callistus,  and  Pallas  put  forth  each  a  candidate  for  marriage 
with  the  emperor.  Agrippina,  who  gained  the  prize,  is  said  to 
have  owed  it  even  more  to  her  own  seductive  arts  than  to  the  favor 
of  her  powerful  advocate,  Pallas.  This  second  heroine  of  the  name 
was  a  daughter  of  Germanicus,  sister  of  Caius  Caligula,  and  niece 
of  the  reigning  emperor.  The  objections  to  the  marriage  of  an 
uncle  with  his  niece  were  easily  overruled. 

Agrippina  began  at  once  to  exert  all  her  influence  to  secure 
the  succession  to  her  own  son  by  a  former  husband,  Domitius 
Ahenobarbus.  She  spared  no  pains,  and  probably  no  falsehood, 
to  disgust  her  facile  spouse  with  the  memory  of  the  wretched  Mes- 
salina, by  whom  he  had  a  son  named  Britannicus.  Claudius  con- 
sented to  adopt  the  young  Domitius  into  his  family,  by  the  name 
of  Nero,  placed  him  on  a  level  with  his  own  child,  and  allowed 


CALIGULA     AND     CLAUDIUS  61 

49-54  A.  D. 

him  to  be  betrothed  to  Octavia,  the  sister  of  Britannicus.  Agrip- 
pina,  who  had  been  born  among  the  Rhenish  camps,  was  careful 
to  keep  up  her  interest  and  popularity  with  the  army;  and  for  this 
purpose  founded  the  military  colony  of  Colonia  Agrippinensis, 
now  Cologne.  She  took  her  seat  beside  the  emperor  at  all  military 
spectacles,  and  had  her  image  stamped  with  his  upon  the  coins. 
By  the  time  that  Nero,  now  in  his  sixteenth  year,  was  mar- 
ried to  Octavia,  the  plans  of  Agrippina  had  ripened.  The  consti- 
tution of  the  emperor,  weakly  from  the  first,  was  beginning  to 
break  up,  and  his  wife  resolved  to  hasten  his  end.  She  took  coun- 
sel with  the  infamous  Locusta,  who  made  a  profession  of  the  art 
of  poisoning.  During  a  journey  taken  by  the  emperor  into  Cam- 
pania for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  she  found  means  of  introducing 
poison  into  a  dish  of  mushrooms,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  Per- 
haps the  dose  was  too  strong,  for  he  vomited,  and  the  drug  failed 
of  its  effect.  Agrippina  hastily  secured  the  services  of  the  phy- 
sician in  attendance,  who  thrust  a  poisoned  feather  down  the  pa- 
tient's throat  under  pretense  of  assisting  him,  and  the  effect  was 
sufficiently  rapid,  for  he  died  in  54  a.  d. 


Chapter  IX 

THE   REIGN    OF   NERO.    54-68  a.  d. 

THE  reign  of  Claudius  had  been,  on  the  whole,  a  period  of 
general  prosperity  and  contentment  for  the  Empire.  The 
machinery  of  government,  both  in  the  city  and  in  the 
provinces,  had  worked  smoothly  and  steadily.  The  success  of  the 
legions  in  Britain  and  in  Germany  had  added  luster  to  the  Roman 
name.  Both  the  Senate  and  the  populace  had  been  treated  with 
consideration  and  generosity.  Yet  in  spite  of  his  inoffensive  char- 
acter, the  feeble  dullness  of  Claudius,  and  his  want  of  self-respect 
in  the  matter  of  his  wives,  brought  upon  him  more  contempt  and 
odium  than  all  the  vices  of  the  Caesars  before  him.  This  feeling 
was  carefully  encouraged  by  Agrippina,  in  order  to  lower  the  esti- 
mation of  Britannicus,  and  enhance  the  popular  expectation  of  her 
own  child,  Domitius  Nero. 

Seneca,  the  philosopher,  had  been  charged  with  the  education 
of  the  prince.  Burrhus,  the  prefect  of  the  praetorians,  had  under- 
taken to  maintain  his  claims  to  the  Empire.  With  the  help  of 
these  two  men,  Agrippina  found  no  difficulty  in  thrusting  Britanni- 
cus aside,  and  installing  the  upstart  Nero  on  the  imperial  throne. 
The  beauty  of  his  person,  the  grace  of  his  demeanor,  and  his  repu- 
tation for  rare  talents  and  accomplishments,  inclined  the  Romans 
to  welcome  him  as  their  ruler.  These  brilliant  hopes  seemed  for 
some  time  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  Under  Seneca's  guidance, 
aided  by  the  manly  sense  of  Burrhus,  Nero  held  the  balance  between 
the  Senate  and  the  people,  and  gratified  both.  His  teachers  urged 
upon  him  counsels  of  moderation,  courtesy,  and  clemency,  which 
he  carried  out  in  practice.  The  first  five  years  of  Nero's  reign,  the 
famous  "  Quinquennium  Neronis,"  were  long  celebrated  as  an  era 
of  virtuous  and  able  government.  The  wise  statesmen,  in  whose 
hands  Nero  was  little  more  than  an  instrument,  were  content  simply 
to  protect  the  machinery  of  government  from  disturbance,  and  the 
Roman  world  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  being  ruled  with  a  "  masterly 
inactivity." 

The  young  emperor's  worst  enemy  was  his  own  mother,  Agrip- 

62 


REIGN     OF     NERO  63 

54-59  A.  D. 

pina.  From  the  day  of  his  accession  she  resolved  to  share  his 
state  and  power.  She  was  borne  in  the  same  litter  with  him;  she 
stamped  the  coins  with  her  own  head  beside  his ;  she  received  ambas- 
sadors, and  sent  dispatches  to  foreign  courts.  Finding  that  her 
influence  upon  her  son  was  altogether  evil,  Seneca  and  Burrhus 
brought  about  the  disgrace  and  dismissal  of  Pallas,  her  freedman 
and  confidant,  on  a  charge  of  treason.  Agrippina  threatened  to 
use  her  influence  with  the  army,  and  even  hinted  at  setting  up 
Britannicus  as  the  rightful  heir  to  the  Empire.  These  threats  roused 
Nero's  jealousy  against  the  young  prince ;  the  services  of  the  vile 
Locusta  were  again  employed,  and  the  innocent  stripling  was  pois- 
oned at  a  banquet  in  the  palace  in  the  presence  of  the  guilty 
emperor. 

The  schism  between  the  mother  and  son  became  now  complete. 
Her  intrigues  with  the  chiefs  of  the  army  were  disclosed  to  him, 
and  he  retaliated  by  withdrawing  the  guard  from  her  house,  and 
never  paying  her  a  formal  visit  without  the  precaution  of  being 
surrounded  by  soldiers.  It  was  rumored  that  both  mother  and 
son  entertained  designs  upon  the  life  of  the  other.  Nero  at  length 
insisted  upon  his  mother's  conduct  being  inquired  into.  She  was 
declared  innocent  of  conspiring  against  him,  and  she  in  turn  had 
the  satisfaction  of  bringing  some  of  her  accusers  to  punishment. 
As  time  went  on,  the  young  emperor  sunk  more  and  more  into 
licentious  and  extravagant  habits ;  by  the  former  what  remained  to 
him  of  natural  good  feeling  was  becoming  fast  extinguished;  by 
the  latter  he  was  being  entangled  in  necessities,  which  could  not 
fail  to  drive  him  to  tyrannical  and  bloody  excesses.  If  he  still 
ingratiated  himself  with  the  people  by  remissions  of  taxation,  he  was 
about  to  indemnify  himself  by  the  proscription  of  the  wealthiest 
of  the  nobles,  and  the  confiscation  of  many  vast  estates. 

The  most  beautiful  woman  then  in  Rome,  and  one  of  the  most 
licentious,  was  Poppaea  Sabina,  wife  of  the  dissolute  Salvius  Otho. 
She  entangled  Nero  in  an  amour  with  her,  and  suffered  him  to  send 
her  husband  to  a  distant  government  in  Lusitania,  while  she  em- 
ployed all  her  arts  to  obtain  the  divorce  of  Octavia,  and  her  own 
elevation  to  the  imperial  couch.  The  great  obstacle  in  her  way 
was  the  power  and  influence  of  the  empress-mother,  who  angrily 
supported  Octavia  in  her  rights.  The  tyrant  now  determined  on 
the  murder  of  his  own  mother.  He  contrived  that  as  she  crossed 
the  smooth  waters  of  the  bay  of  Baiae  her  galley  should  founder. 


64  ITALY 

59-63    A.  D. 

To  the  disappointment  of  her  son,  Agrippina  escaped  to  land,  and 
sent  a  message  to  him.  He  assembled  his  ministers,  and  at  last 
extracted  from  them  the  counsel  for  which  he  was  longing.  Seneca 
and  Burrhus  felt  that  the  palace  must  be  relieved  from  the  intrigues 
which  had  so  long  harassed  it.  They  consented  to  complete  the 
frustrated  crime  by  the  hand  of  assassins.  A  pretext  was  easily 
invented,  the  order  was  given,  and  the  empress  was  dispatched  with- 
out delay.  As  she  lay  prostrate  before  her  murderers,  "  Strike," 
she  cried,  "  the  womb  that  bore  a  monster."  Nero  is  reported  to 
have  himself  inspected  the  corpse,  and  expressed  his  admiration  of 
its  beauty.  Such  were  the  horrors  over  which  Roman  society  then 
shuddered  and  gloated. 

Poppaea  now  obtained  entire  sway  over  the  tyrant,  living  with 
him  openly  as  his  mistress,  and  encouraging  him  to  give  himself 
up  to  the  coarsest  and  most  disgusting  pleasures.  It  was  not  till 
three  years  later  that  she  cared  to  obtain  the  divorce  and  exile  of 
Octavia,  her  own  release  from  Otho,  and  finally  her  marriage  with 
Nero.  Installed  as  empress,  she  bore  him  one  child,  and  died 
soon  after  from  the  effects  of  a  kick  inflicted  by  her  husband. 

The  faithful  Burrhus  was  relieved  by  death  from  the  sight  of  his 
prince's  increasing  depravity  in  62  a.  d.  Seneca  retired  from  court. 
Nero  was  not  sorry  to  be  relieved  of  the  restraint  of  his  presence. 
Casting  aside  the  stately  traditions  of  the  Roman  nobility,  the 
emperor  now  strove  to  make  himself  the  idol  of  the  populace,  the 
scum  of  all  nations  with  which  Rome  was  inundated.  He  descended 
into  the  arena,  contending  with  professional  singers  and  musicians, 
and  taking  part  in  the  games  of  the  circus.  The  rabble  shouted 
with  delight,  but  the  nobles  shuddered  at  the  degradation  of  their 
order. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  the  year  63  a.  d.  that  the  great  fire  broke 
out  which  consumed  six  out  of  the  fourteen  quarters  of  Rome. 
Springing  up  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city,  and  fanned  by  an 
east  wind,  it  swept  away  all  the  buildings  which  occupied  the  hol- 
lows below  the  Palatine.  For  six  days  the  fire  burned  furiously, 
and  scarcely  had  it  died  down  when  another  fire  began  in  the  oppo- 
site quarter,  and  consumed  all  the  region  between  the  Pincian  and 
the  Capitoline.  Many  venerable  temples,  works  of  art,  and  monu- 
ments of  antiquity  perished  in  the  flames.  It  was  asserted  that 
incendiaries  had  been  seen  at  work,  and,  on  being  questioned,  had 
declared  that  they  acted  under  orders.     It  was  rumored  that  the 


REIGN     OF     NERO  65 

63-65   A.  D. 

emperor  watched  the  fire  from  his  palace,  and  amused  himself  with 
enacting  the  drama  of  the  destruction  of  Troy  in  view  of  it.  The 
belief  gained  ground  that  he  had  himself  caused  the  conflagration 
as  a  spectacle  for  his  own  wanton  enjoyment. 

So  deep  was  the  indignation  of  the  people  that  the  throne  of 
Caesar  seemed  to  rock  upon  its  base.  Nero  hastened  into  the 
streets,  distributed  in  aid  of  their  present  necessities  all  the  money 
he  had  at  hand ;  and  then,  with  characteristic  cruelty,  determined  to 
divert  public  attention  by  a  persecution  which  should  transfer  the 
odium  from  himself  to  his  innocent  victims,  but  his  persecution  was 
only  a  sudden  outburst  of  savagery,  differing  greatly  from  the  per- 
secution of  Diocletian,  for  in  Nero's  time  the  Romans  knew  but 
little  about  the  Christians.  The  Jews  were  not  popular  in  the  city ; 
but  the  new  sect  of  Christians,  which  had  lately  arisen  among  them, 
was  beginning  to  excite  alarm  by  the  number  of  conversions  it  had 
effected  among  the  highest  class  of  Romans.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Jews  would  fan  any  suspicions  directed  against  the  new  sect. 
At  any  rate,  Nero  accused  the  Christians  of  having  caused  the  con- 
flagration, and  commanded  their  execution.  Numbers  of  victims 
were  seized,  wrapped  in  pitched  cloth,  and  set  on  fire,  so  as  to  burn 
like  torches.  Even  the  refuse  of  the  Roman  mob  was  at  last  moved 
to  pity,  but  their  first  fury  had  been  diverted  from  the  emperor,  and 
it  subsided  into  vague  distrust  or  careless  contempt. 

Meanwhile  Nero  continued  from  time  to  time  to  replenish  his 
coffers  by  the  proscription  of  the  wealthiest  nobles.  In  spite  of 
the  jealousy  with  which  the  Caesars  had  regarded  them,  this  class 
had  contrived  to  accumulate  great  possessions,  especially  in  land. 
It  is  said  that  half  the  soil  of  the  province  of  Africa  was  held  in  fee 
by  no  more  than  six  proprietors.  As  one  after  another  was  attacked 
by  the  tyrant,  the  survivors  became  alarmed,  and  conspired  against 
him.  Many  of  the  chief  people  in  Rome  joined  the  plot,  at  the 
head  of  which  stood  Calpurnius  Piso,  who  hoped,  in  case  of  suc- 
cess, to  be  elevated  by  the  Senate  to  the  throne.  Seneca  and  his 
nephew  Lucan  gave  their  adhesion  to  the  scheme :  but  the  combina- 
tion was  betrayed  and  collapsed  without  ever  striking  a  blow. 
Seneca  and  Lucan  were  required  to  take  their  own  lives.  The 
people  seem  to  have  had  no  sympathy  with  what  was,  after  all,  a 
purely  aristocratic  faction.  They  still  preferred  the  names  of 
Marius,  of  Caesar,  and  even  of  Nero,  the  champions  of  the  plebs, 
to  any  which  the  Senate  would  deign  to  invoke.     It  was  not  until 


66  ITALY 

65-68   A.  D. 

the  effects  of  Nero's  despotism  reached  the  provinces  that  rebellion 
became  successful. 

The  ease  with  which  this  senatorial  revolt  had  been  quelled 
betrayed  Nero  still  further  to  his  ruin.  He  felt  relieved  from  all 
restraint  imposed  by  the  opinion  of  Roman  society.  His  vain  exhi- 
bitions of  himself  and  his  supposed  accomplishments  disgusted  even 
slaves  and  foreigners.  During  a  tour  which  he  made  in  Greece, 
the  Romans  heard  with  indignation  of  their  emperor  contending 
for  prizes  at  the  Grecian  festivals.  All  classes  were  thoroughly 
weary  of  him,  but  it  was  reserved  neither  for  the  Senate  nor  the 
people  of  Rome  to  effect  a  change.  A  third  force,  that  of  the 
army  on  the  distant  frontiers,  was  preparing  to  assert  its  power. 
Such  a  catastrophe  as  a  provincial  governor  marching  in  arms 
against  his  imperator  and  driving  him  from  the  throne  had  never 
yet  occurred,  though  in  more  than  one  instance  the  Caesars  had 
descended  with  irresistible  might  upon  their  lieutenants,  and 
snatched  from  them  the  power  which  began  to  be  too  great. 

In  the  year  68  a.  d.  Nero  returned  to  Rome  from  Greece,  urged 
by  repeated  warnings  from  his  freedman  Helius,  whom  he  had  left  as 
governor  of  the  city.  He  had  amused  the  Greeks,  he  had  pretended 
to  compliment  them  with  the  gift  of  freedom :  he  had  at  least 
begun  the  useful  work  of  cutting  through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  had  robbed  them  of  thousands  of  statues 
and  artistic  treasures  for  the  decoration  of  his  own  capital.  He 
had  also  offended  them  by  his  persecution  at  Rome  of  the  stoic 
philosophers  Seneca,  Barea,  Thrasea,  and  others.  The  gravity 
and  earnestness  of  these  men,  in  an  age  which  had  heard  the  early 
teachings  of  the  Gospel,  began  to  draw  men's  minds  away  from  the 
contemplation  of  the  tyrant's  greatness.  Such  a  fact  was  sufficient 
to  excite  his  jealousy  against  them,  as  against  the  Christians.  Both 
philosophers  and  Christians  were  really  quiet,  inoffensive  subjects: 
both  submitted  patiently  to  the  emperor's  ruthless  edicts ;  but  while 
the  sufferings  of  the  men  of  science  passed  into  oblivion,  those  of 
the  men  of  faith  left  a  burning  memory  behind  them,  which 
brought  about  in  course  of  time  the  greatest  of  all  social  and  moral 
revolutions. 

Nero  returned  to  find  his  capital  rebuilt  and  beautified  in  Gre- 
cian style,  and  to  occupy  his  splendid  palace,  his  Golden  House,  as 
it  was  called,  which  extended  its  luxurious  precincts  not  only  over 
the  Palatine,  but  over  portions  of  the  Caelian  and  Esquiline  as  well. 


REIGN     OF     NERO 


67 


68   A.  D. 

Gardens,  lakes,  baths,  pleasure-grounds,  were  included  in  the  im- 
perial domains,  with  bridges  and  galleries  to  connect  the  various 
mansions.  "  Now  at  last,"  said  Nero,  "  I  am  lodged  as  a  man 
should  be,"  and  the  saying  was  remembered  against  him. 

Meanwhile  plots  were  rife  in  the  armies  of  Spain  and  Gaul,  and 
in  the  city  the  temper  of  the  nobles  was  gloomy,  that  of  the  mob 
uncertain. 

The  emperor  returned  in  excellent  spirits  and  entered  Naples, 
Antium,  and  Rome  in  a  succession  of  triumphs,  but  only  to  hear 


the  news  that  a  revolt  was  imminent.  Galba,  the  governor  of 
Hither  Spain,  was  in  league  with  Vindex  of  Farther  Gaul.  In  his 
childhood  the  great  Augustus  had  let  fall  to  him  the  words,  "  You, 
too,  shall  one  day  taste  of  empire."  He  was  now  in  his  seventy- 
third  year.  It  was  upon  Vindex  that  Nero  first  fixed  his  attention. 
He  called  upon  Virginius  to  lead  the  legions  of  Germania  against 
him.  The  soldiers  were  loyal,  though  their  general  was  not ;  they 
cut  the  legions  of  Vindex  to  pieces,  and  the  rebel  leader  perished 
with  his  troops.  Then  they  changed  their  minds,  and  proposed  to 
raise  their  own  commander  to  the  purple,  but  Virginius  preferred  to 
follow  in  the  wake  of  Galba,  and  thus  the  two  great  provinces  of  the 
West  prepared  to  march  against  Rome. 


68  ITALY 

68  A.  D. 

Some  months  elapsed  before  the  legions  of  Gaul  and  Spain 
could  reach  the  heart  of  Italy.  Nero  seemed  incapable  of  devising 
any  serious  defense,  and  during  this  period  of  suspense  displayed 
the  contemptible  weakness  of  his  character.  When  the  danger 
became  imminent,  he  tore  his  hair  and  robes,  and  cried  aloud  in 
abject  terror.  Abandoned  by  all  men,  he  had  no  recourse  left  but 
suicide ;  no  guard  or  gladiator  could  be  found  to  pierce  his  breast ; 
even  his  casket,  which  contained  the  poison  supplied  to  him  by 
Locusta,  had  been  stolen.  When  night  came  on,  he  took  horse 
with  one  or  two  attendants,  and  escaped  from  the  city  to  the  neigh- 
boring villa  of  his  freedman  Phaon.  Here  he  lingered  a  few  hours 
in  utter  prostration  of  spirit,  when  news  arrived  that  the  Senate,  on 
hearing  of  his  flight,  had  proclaimed  him  a  public  enemy,  and  sen- 
tenced him  to  a  shameful  death.  Taking  two  daggers  from  his 
breast,  he  tried  again  and  again  to  nerve  himself  to  the  fatal  deed, 
but  it  was  not  till  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs  was  heard,  and  the 
messengers  of  death  were  plainly  closing  upon  him,  that  he  placed 
a  weapon  to  his  breast  and  bade  his  slave  Epaphroditus  drive  it 
home,  saying,  "  Pity  that  such  an  artist  should  die !  " 

Nero  perished  on  June  9,  68  a.  d.,  at  the  age  of  thirty  years  and 
six  months,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  reign.  His  child  by 
Poppaea  had  died  in  infancy,  and  a  later  marriage  had  proved 
unfruitful.  With  him  the  stock  of  the  Julii,  refreshed  as  it  had 
been  by  grafts  from  the  Octavii,  the  Claudii,  and  the  Domitii, 
became  extinct.  Each  of  the  six  Caesars  had  married  repeatedly, 
Claudius  as  often  as  six  times ;  many  of  these  unions  had  been  fruit- 
ful, yet  no  descendant  of  any  survived.  A  large  proportion  of  them 
had  fallen  victims  to  political  jealousy.  Such  was  the  price  paid 
by  the  emperor's  family  for  their  splendid  inheritance.  The  Em- 
pire, however,  had  enjoyed,  for  a  hundred  years,  immunity  from 
civil  discord  and  promiscuous  bloodshed,  till  the  secret  was  dis- 
covered that  a  prince  could  be  created  elsewhere  than  at  Rome,  and 
from  this  time  the  succession  of  the  Roman  emperors  was  most 
commonly  effected  by  the  distant  legions,  and  seldom  without  vio- 
lence and  slaughter. 


►,  a. 


Chapter    X 

CONTEST   FOR   THE    EMPIRE.    68-69  a.d. 

SERVIUS  SULPICIUS  GALBA  had  been  proclaimed  im- 
perator  by  the  legions  in  Spain  on  April  13,  almost  two 
months  before  the  actual  fall  of  Nero.  On  hearing  of  the 
emperor's  death,  he  advanced  to  Narbo,  where  he  met  the  envoys 
charged  by  the  consuls  and  the  Senate  to  acknowledge  his  claim  to 
empire.  He  entered  Rome  as  a  victorious  general  on  January  1 
of  the  following  year.  Galba  was  a  man  of  ancient  family,  a  suc- 
cessful soldier,  and  a  strict  disciplinarian,  but  he  possessed  no  grace 
of  manner  to  persuade,  nor  force  of  genius  to  command.  He  felt 
insecure  of  the  obedience  of  the  great  proconsuls,  with  their  numer- 
ous legions  posted  on  the  Rhine  and  the  Euphrates.  He  therefore, 
with  the  help  of  some  of  the  chief  citizens,  who  went  through  the 
form  of  an  election,  associated  with  himself  in  power  Piso  Licinia- 
nus,  a  noble  of  distinction.  The  new  Caesar,  however,  was  as 
austere  and  unpopular  as  Galba  himself,  and  the  emperor's  parsi- 
mony toward  the  soldiers,  who  expected  a  liberal  donative,  griev- 
ously disappointed  them. 

No  man  in  Rome  was  so  mortified  by  Piso's  elevation  as  Otho. 
This  noble,  whom  Nero  had  removed  to  Lusitania  when  he  took 
from  him  his  wife  Poppaea,  had  reentered  Rome  in  Galba's  train. 

He  at  once  took  advantage  of  the  discontent  which  was  rife 
among  the  troops,  and  as  early  as  January  14,  the  fifth  day  after 
Piso's  election,  his  intrigues  had  so  far  succeeded  that  the  praetori- 
ans were  prepared  to  carry  him  to  their  camp  at  nightfall,  and  pre- 
sent him  to  the  people  as  the  choice  of  the  soldiers  in  the  morn- 
ing. But  Otho  acted  with  more  deliberation.  On  the  morning 
of  the  15th,  Galba  was  sacrificing  before  the  temple  of  Apollo  on 
the  Palatine,  when  the  aruspex  informed  him  that  the  signs  were 
inauspicious,  and  portended  a  foe  to  his  household.  Otho  was 
standing  by,  and  accepted  the  words  as  an  omen.  He  quitted  the 
emperor's  side,  and  descended  into  the  Roman  Forum.  Here  he 
was  met  by  a  handful  of  soldiers,  who  hailed  him  as  imperator, 

69 


70  ITALY 

68-69  A.    D. 

and  with  drawn  swords  bore  him  to  the  praetorian  camp.  The 
revolt  was  at  once  complete. 

Galba  had  not  yet  finished  his  sacrifice  when  the  report  of  the 
mutiny  reached  him.  Both  soldiers  and  people  appeared  to  be 
indifferent,  and  indisposed  to  arm  either  for  or  against  the  impera- 
tor.  By  the  time  that  Galba  reached  the  Forum  he  was  met  by 
the  tumultuous  band  of  the  praetorians  advancing  with  Otho  in  their 
midst.  A  single  cohort  surrounded  Galba,  but  they  quickly  made 
common  cause  writh  their  comrades.  The  emperor's  litter  was 
overturned  at  the  Curtian  pool  beneath  the  Capitol,  and  there  Galba 
was  hacked  to  pieces.  The  praetorians,  fully  sensible  of  their  own 
importance,  demanded  to  choose  their  own  prefects.  The  Empire 
had  in  fact  become  a  military  republic. 

The  sudden  fall  of  this  unfortunate  ruler  must  have  caused 
great  disappointment  to  all  the  more  sober  citizens.  Such  among 
them  as  were  superior  to  the  popular  illusion  in  favor  of  a  prince 
of  the  Julian  race,  to  which  a  kind  of  divine  right  seemed  already 
to  attach,  might  well  have  imagined  that  one  of  the  most  able  and 
experienced  of  their  military  chiefs  would  have  held  sway  over  the 
people  and  the  legions  with  a  firm  and  equal  hand.  The  men  who 
now  governed  the  provinces,  nobles  by  birth,  senators  in  rank, 
judges  and  administrators  as  well  as  captains  by  office,  represented 
the  highest  and  largest  training  of  the  Roman  character,  for  they 
combined  a  wide  experience  of  men  and  affairs  with  the  feelings 
of  a  high-born  aristocracy  and  the  education  of  polished  gentlemen. 
They  were  conquerors,  but  they  were  also  organizers.  They  were 
the  true  promoters  of  the  Roman  civilization  which  has  left  its 
impress  upon  Europe  for  so  many  centuries.  The  citizens  felt 
assured  that  it  must  be  through  personal  mismanagement  that  Galba, 
the  representative  of  this  class,  had  failed  to  command  success. 
Tacitus,  speaking  solemnly  in  the  name  of  his  countrymen,  after 
summing  up  his  many  excellent  qualities,  declares  that  all  men 
would  have  pronounced  him  fit  to  rule  had  he  but  never  ruled. 
Undoubtedly  he  should  have  condescended  to  bribe  the  soldiers  at 
the  outset;  this  would  have  given  him  a  breathing-time,  and  afforded 
the  only  chance  of  controlling  them.  His  successors  took  care  not 
to  fall  into  the  same  error.  Some  failed,  notwithstanding,  but 
others  succeeded  in  consequence.  Meanwhile  the  legions  in  Gaul 
and  on  the  Rhine,  under  the  command  of  Valens,  Caecina,  and 
Vitellius,  had  already  refused  the  military  oath  to  Galba  at  the 


CONTEST     FOR     EMPIRE  71 

69    A.  D. 

opening  of  the  year.  Vitellius  was  put  forward  as  their  candidate. 
The  other  chiefs  of  the  army  acquiesced  in  his  superior  claims,  and 
consented  to  act  as  his  lieutenants,  and  it  was  resolved  at  once  to 
march  upon  Rome.  Valens  and  Csecina,  as  bolder  and  better  cap- 
tains, led  the  advance.  Vitellius  delayed  his  progress  till  he  was 
assured  of  the  adhesion  of  the  Narbonensis  and  Aquitania  to  his 
cause.  Otho,  to  whom  the  Senate  had  already  taken  the  oath  of 
fidelity,  on  hearing  of  the  defection  of  Vitellius,  offered  to  satisfy 
all  his  claims,  and  even  to  share  the  Empire  with  him.  This  offer 
Vitellius  had  the  spirit  to  refuse. 

As  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  the  Empire  must  be  decided 
by  the  sword,  Otho  quitted  Rome  at  the  head  of  all  the  forces  he 
could  muster.  He  encountered  the  army  of  Csecina  as  they  were 
marching  across  the  Cisalpine,  and  inflicted  a  severe  check  upon 
them.  But  when  Valens,  coming  from  the  Western  Alps,  effected 
his  junction  with  them,  the  two  commanders  assumed  an  attitude 
of  defiance,  and  challenged  Otho  to  a  decisive  battle  at  Bedriacum, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Adda  and  the  Po.  After  a  resolute  and 
bloody  contest,  the  victory  remained  with  the  Vitellians,  whereupon 
the  Othonians  promptly  admitted  them  to  their  camp,  and  made 
common  cause  with  them.  The  position  of  Otho,  who  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  band  of  faithful  followers,  might  still  not  be  desper- 
ate. But  he  determined  to  refrain  from  further  resistance,  and, 
hopeless  as  he  was  of  preserving  his  life  from  his  enemies,  he  sac- 
rificed it  with  his  own  hand.  Vitellius  was  lazily  descending  the 
Saone  in  a  barge  to  avoid  the  fatigue  of  marching.  At  Lugdunum 
he  met  Valens  and  Csecina,  returned  victorious  from  the  Cisalpine, 
and  thereupon  he  assumed  the  ensigns  of  empire.  Some  cruel 
executions  followed,  but  not  many.  His  edicts  were  moderate 
and  popular.  He  waived  for  the  present  the  title  of  Augustus, 
and  positively  refused  that  of  Caesar.  He  directed  the  diviners, 
the  favorites  of  Otho  and  Nero,  to  be  expelled  from  Italy,  and 
forbade  the  Roman  knights  to  disgrace  their  order  by  fight- 
ing in  the  arena.  It  was  acknowledged  that  his  wife  Galeria 
and  his  mother  Sextilia  conducted  themselves  in  their  high  positions 
with  noble  simplicity.  During  his  advance  into  Italy  he  associated 
with  himself  Virginius,  the  most  generous  Roman  of  his  day,  who 
had  openly  espoused  his  cause.  Yet  the  Romans  were  slow  to  for- 
give the  victor  in  a  battle  against  Romans.  They  declared  that 
when  he  reached  Bedriacum  he  showed  no  remorse  at  the  death  of 


72  ITALY 

69    A.  D. 

so  many  of  his  countrymen.  At  last  he  would  have  entered  the 
city,  cloaked  and  booted,  in  the  garb  of  war,  at  the  head  of  his  con- 
quering troops;  but  from  this  atrocity  he  was  dissuaded,  and  at 
the  Milvian  Bridge  he  laid  down  his  military  ensigns  and  traversed 
the  streets  in  the  civil  praetexta,  the  soldiers  following,  but  with 
sheathed  swords. 

Thus  far  the  armies  of  the  East  had  taken  no  part  in  the  con- 
test. Mucianus  was  proconsul  of  Syria.  Second  to  him  in  com- 
mand, but  held  in  no  less  honor  by  the  soldiers,  was  T.  Flavius 
Vespasianus,  a  plebeian  by  birth,  who  with  his  son  Titus  was 
actively  employed  in  Palestine.  Both  these  generals  had  nominally 
acquiesced  in  the  claims  of  Galba,  of  Otho,  of  Vitellius,  in  succes- 
sion, but  had  given  them  no  active  support.  Vespasian  was  inspired 
with  a  fanatical  belief  in  his  own  good  fortune,  and  under  the 
influence  of  Oriental  diviners  became  filled  with  the  idea  that  he 
was  destined  for  empire.  Mucianus  conceded  to  him  the  first  place 
and  lent  him  all  his  influence.  On  July  i,  69  a.  d.,  the  soldiers  pro- 
claimed him  Imperator,  to  which  the  titles  of  Caesar  and  Augustus 
were  speedily  added. 

At  the  moment  that  the  Syrian  legions  were  proclaiming  Ves- 
pasian, Vitellius  was  making  his  entry  as  emperor  into  Rome.  So 
far  as  he  took  any  part  in  public  affairs,  his  behavior  seems  to  have 
been  modest  and  becoming.  But  he  left  the  real  government  to 
be  managed  by  Valens  and  C?ecina  with  gross  oppression  and 
extortion,  while  he  surrendered  himself  wholly  to  the  vilest  debauch- 
ery. Within  the  few  months  of  his  power  he  spent  nine  hundred 
millions  of  sesterces,  or  about  $35,000,000,  in  vulgar  and  brutal 
sensuality.  The  police  of  the  city  was  neglected.  The  soldiers, 
uncontrolled,  inflicted  great  hardships  on  the  citizens.  The  freed- 
men  Asiaticus  and  Polycletus  became  powers  in  the  state.  The 
degradation  of  Rome  was  complete:  never  before  had  she  sunk  so 
low  in  luxury  and  licentiousness.  Three  legions  of  Vespasian  had 
crossed  the  Alps  under  Antonius  Primus,  who  led  the  van  of  Mucia- 
nus's  army.  Valens  and  Csecina,  with  a  powerful  force,  were  dis- 
patched to  oppose  him.  But  Primus  confidently  challenged  them  to 
the  combat,  and  defeated  them  on  the  plains  of  Bedriacum.  Cre- 
mona fell  into  his  hands,  and  was  given  over  to  plunder  and  burning. 

Vitellius  was  still  at  Rome,  groveling  in  his  beastly  indul- 
gences, refusing  to  credit  the  account  of  his  disasters,  but  wreaking 
his  fears  and  jealousies  upon  the  best  of  the  nobles  within  his  reach. 


A    ROM  AX     MOB     MURDERING     THE     EMPEROR    VITEI.I.IC 
STREETS     OF     ROME 
Painting  by  George  Rochcgrosse 


CONTEST     FOR     EMPIRE  73 

69    A.  D. 

At  last  he  quitted  the  city  at  the  head  of  the  praetorians.  Primus 
crossed  the  Apennines  to  encounter  him,  while  the  populations  of 
Central  Italy  rose  against  him.  The  two  armies  confronted  one 
another  in  the  valley  of  the  Nar,  but  the  Vitellians  yielded  without 
a  blow.  Terms  were  offered  by  Primus,  which  were  confirmed  by 
Mucianus,  and  greedily  accepted  by  the  defenseless  emperor,  who 
consented  to  retire  quietly  into  private  life.  But  in  an  evil  moment 
he  was  persuaded  to  return  to  Rome,  and  there,  at  the  head  of  a 
desperate  faction,  he  attacked  the  adherents  of  Vespasian  under  his 
brother  Sabinus,  and  drove  them  into  the  Capitol.  An  assault  fol- 
lowed, in  the  course  of  which  fire  was  freely  used,  and  the  most 
august  sanctuary  of  the  Roman  people  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
Vitellius  watched  the  struggle  from  the  palace  opposite,  the  people 
from  the  Forum,  and  Velabrum  beneath.  The  citizens  were  keenly 
reminded  of  the  sack  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls,  for  the  soldiers  of 
Vitellius  came  from  Gaul,  and  were  mostly  of  Gaulish  extraction. 
At  length  these  Gauls  and  Germans  burst  in  with  yells  of  triumph, 
and  put  the  Flavian  defenders  to  the  sword.  But  Domitian,  the 
younger  son  of  Vespasian,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  holy  pre- 
cincts, contrived  to  slip  away  in  disguise.  The  Flavian  legions, 
under  Mucianus  and  Antonius  Primus,  were  now  steadily  advancing 
upon  the  city.  One  last  effort  was  made  by  the  Vitellian  soldiers 
and  the  rabble  of  the  city  to  resist  them,  but  in  vain.  The  victors 
entered  pell-mell  with  the  vanquished,  for  the  gates  of  Rome  now 
stood  always  open,  and  the  combat  was  renewed  from  street  to 
street,  the  populace  looking  gayly  on,  applauding  or  hooting  as  in 
the  theater  and  helping  to  drag  the  fugitives  from  the  shops  and 
taverns  for  slaughter.  Rome  had  witnessed  the  conflicts  of  armed 
men  in  the  streets  under  Sulla  and  Cinna,  but  never  before  such  a 
hideous  mixture  of  levity  and  ferocity.  In  somewhat  over  a  year 
there  had  been  four  emperors  proclaimed :  three  by  the  frontier 
armies  and  one  by  the  praetorian  guard. 

Vitellius,  on  the  taking  of  the  city,  had  escaped  from  the  palace 
to  a  private  dwelling  on  the  Aventine,  but  under  some  restless  im- 
pulse he  returned  and  roamed  through  his  deserted  halls,  dismayed 
at  the  solitude  and  silence,  yet  shrinking  from  every  sound  and  the 
presence  of  a  human  being.  At  last  he  was  discovered,  half-hidden 
behind  a  curtain,  and  ignominiously  dragged  forth.  With  his 
hands  bound,  his  dress  torn,  he  was  hurried  along,  amid  the 
scoffs  of  the  multitude,  and  exposed  to  the  insolence  of  the  passing 


74  ITALY 

69  A.  D. 

soldiery.  Wounded  and  bleeding,  he  was  urged  on  at  the  point  of 
the  lance ;  his  head  was  kept  erect  by  a  sword  held  beneath  to  com- 
pel him  to  show  himself,  and  to  witness  the  demolition  of  his  own 
statues.  At  last,  after  suffering  every  form  of  insult,  he  was  dis- 
patched with  many  wounds  at  the  Gemonire,  to  which  he  had  been 
thus  brutally  dragged.  The  death  of  Vitellius  finally  cleared  the 
way  for  Vespasian,  to  whom,  though  still  far  distant,  the  senators 
decreed  all  the  honors  and  prerogatives  of  empire.  Primus  and 
Mucianus  adhered  faithfully  to  him,  and  paid  their  court  to  his  son 
Domitian  as  his  acknowledged  representative.  Vespasian  and  Titus 
were  appointed  consuls  at  the  commencement  of  the  new  year,  and 
to  a  civil  strife  of  eighteen  months  soon  succeeded  a  stable  pacifica- 
tion (69  a.  d.).  "  This  military  revolution  had  some  good  results :  it 
lessened  the  political  value  of  the  capital,  and  it  ended  in  giving  the 
Empire  an  able  ruler.  In  fact,  Vespasian  was  the  first  in  a  line  of 
princes  trained  in  the  camp, — uncorrupted  by  the  impure  atmos- 
phere of  Rome,  able,  experienced,  broad-minded, — who  were  to  give 
the  Empire  its  most  prosperous  era."  1 

1  Botsford,  "  History  of  Rome,"   p.   233. 


Chapter  XI 

AFFAIRS  IN  THE  ROMAN  PROVINCES.     62-70  a.  d. 

OUR  attention  has  been  for  some  time  confined  to  events 
(  whose  interest  centers  in  Rome  itself.  We  must  now 
make  a  short  digression  to  notice  three  episodes  of  frontier 
fighting- — the  further  subjugation  of  the  Britons,  the  suppression 
of  the  mutiny  of  the  Gaulish  tribes,  and  the  final  conquest  of  Judsea. 

After  the  defeat  of  Caractacus,  the  southern  part  of  Britain, 
from  the  Stour,  in  the  east,  to  the  Exe  and  Wye,  in  the  west,  formed 
a  compact  and  organized  province,  the  government  of  which  was 
directed  from  Camulodunum  (Colchester). 

Londinium  (London)  though  neither  colonized  nor  fortified, 
had  already  become  a  center  of  Continental  trade,  whence  corn  and 
cattle  and  handsome  slaves  were  exported  in  exchange  for  the 
manufactures  of  the  Belgian  and  Rhenish  cities.  Roads  of  earlier 
than  Roman  construction  traversed  the  country  from  Dover  and 
Richborough  to  Seaton  and  Brancaster,  to  the  Severn,  the  Dee, 
and  the  Northern  Ouse,  and  all  of  them  passed  through  Londinium. 
Four  legions  occupied  the  country.  The  Second,  which,  under  the 
command  of  Vespasian,  had  subdued  the  southwest,  was  quartered 
at  Caerleon,  on  the  Usk.  The  Ninth  kept  guard  over  the  inde- 
pendent tribe  of  the  Iceni  at  Brancaster.  on  the  Stour.  The  Twen- 
tieth, at  Chester,  watched  the  Brig-antes,  who  maintained  their 
independence  in  the  North.  The  Fourteenth  was  engaged  in  carry- 
ing on  the  conquest  of  North  Wales.  Numbers  of  Druids,  escaped 
from  France,  together  with  their  British  colleagues,  retreated  before 
the  conquerors  into  the  sacred  isle  of  Mona  (Anglesea). 

The  Fourteenth  legion,  led  by  Suetonius  Paulinus,  having 
reached  Segontium  (Caernarvon),  prepared  rafts  to  carry  the  infan- 
try over  the  Menai  Strait,  while  the  cavalry  swam  their  horses 
across  the  channel.  The  Britons  made  a  gallant  resistance  in 
defense  of  their  liberty  and  their  faith,  but  they  were  massacred  in 
numbers  by  the  Roman  soldiery,  and  the  Druidical  worship  was 
finally  abolished. 

75 


76  ITALY 

62-69   A.  D. 

Suetonius  was  suddenly  recalled  by  news  of  disaster  in  his 
rear.  The  Iceni,  headed  by  their  queen  Boadicea,  who  burned  to 
avenge  the  insults  offered  by  Romans  to  herself  and  her  daughters, 
had  burst  in  great  multitudes  across  the  Stour,  had  sacked  and 
burned  both  Camulodunum  and  Verulamium,  in  Hertfordshire, 
putting  the  colonists  to  the  sword;  and  when  Suetonius  appeared 
upon  the  scene  he  was  unable  to  save  Londinium  from  the  like  fate. 
The  Britons  vastly  outnumbered  the  Roman  legions,  and,  flushed 
with  conquest,  for  some  time  harassed  them  severely.  Suetonius, 
confident  in  the  discipline  of  his  troops,  coolly  watched  his  enemies 
as  they  encumbered  themselves  with  plunder,  and  offered  them  bat- 
tle on  ground  of  his  own  choosing.  The  event  proved  that  his 
confidence  was  well  founded.  Despite  the  eloquence  and  courage 
of  Boadicea,  the  barbarians  wavered  and  broke  before  the  steady 
onset  of  the  legions ;  80,000  of  them  were  slain,  their  queen  com- 
mitted suicide,  and  the  revolt  of  the  Iceni  was  subdued. 

This  outbreak  had  cost  the  Roman  colony  dear  both  in  wealth 
and  numbers.  It  is  said  that  70,000  of  them  perished.  But  these 
losses  were  quickly  repaired.  The  Roman  yoke,  now  firmly  fixed, 
brought  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  country,  whose  wealth  of  flocks 
and  mines  was  rapidly  developed.  Before  the  death  of  Nero,  the 
Roman  province  extended  to  the  Mersey  and  the  Trent.  The 
Britons  had  fought  bravely  for  their  freedom,  but  they  were  quick 
to  perceive  the  advantages  of  a  higher  civilization,  and  submitted 
more  readily  than  many  other  nations  to  their  Roman  conquerors. 
We  may  now  turn  to  the  mutiny  of  the  Gaulish  auxiliaries. 
A  large  portion  of  the  upper  classes  of  Gaul  had  been  thoroughly 
incorporated  into  the  Roman  Empire,  and  were  reckoned  as  Roman 
citizens.  From  among  these  natives  and  the  Roman  colonists 
the  legions  were  recruited  which  garrisoned  the  country,  and 
watched  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine.  A  yet  larger  portion  of  the 
population  were  still  looked  upon  as  subjects  and  Gauls,  and  from 
this  class  auxiliary  troops  were  levied,  which  were  brigaded  with 
the  legions,  but  occupied  an  inferior  position.  During  the  civil 
wars  which  followed  the  death  of  Nero,  both  Galba  and  Vitellius 
had  drawn  largely  on  the  strength  of  the  legions  in  Gaul ;  the  aux- 
iliaries in  consequence  found  themselves  in  a  great  preponderance 
of  numbers  over  the  regular  troops.  Advantage  was  taken  of 
this  circumstance  by  Civilis,  a  Romanized  Batavian,  to  seduce  his 
countrymen  from  their  allegiance,  and  incite  them  to  claim   the 


THE  EMPEROR   TITUS   FLAVIUS    SABINTS  VESPASIANUS 

(  Horn   i)   a.  11.     1  >ied   7<>   a.  i>.) 

Bust  in   lln-  Capitoline   Museum,   Rome 


AFFAIRS     IN     PROVINCES  77 

44-69  A.    D. 

right  of  choosing  an  emperor  for  themselves.  The  legions  on  the 
Rhine  adhered  to  the  cause  of  Vitellius.  Civilis  and  his  Batavians 
declared  for  Vespasian,  and  the  Gaulish  auxiliaries  throughout  the 
Rhenish  camps  joined  their  forces  to  his.  It  soon  appeared,  how- 
ever, that  the  movement  was  in  reality  directed  toward  the  libera- 
tion of  the  country.  Civilis  himself  was  put  forward  as  the  chief 
of  an  independent  empire.  The  steadiness  with  which  the  legions, 
weakened  and  ill  commanded  as  they  were,  resisted  this  mutiny  is 
well  worthy  of  notice.  Outnumbered  in  the  field,  they  shut  them- 
selves up  in  strong  camps  and  stood  a  siege.  They  were  relieved, 
and  before  long  again  overmatched  by  the  mutineers;  but  in  the 
face  of  heavy  odds  they  held  the  country  bravely  for  Rome.  As 
soon  as  Vespasian  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  he  dispatched 
Mucianus  and  Domitian  with  supports  to  these  brave  legions,  but 
even  before  the  succor  reached  them  they  had  mastered  their  enemy 
and  driven  the  Gaulish  hero  out  of  his  island  in  the  Rhine  into  the 
German  forests.  Civilis,  however,  made  terms,  and  was  allowed  to 
return  and  live  peaceably  at  home.  Thus  ended  the  last  national 
effort  of  the  Gauls.  It  was  strictly  confined  to  the  soldiery,  and 
never  stirred  the  mass  of  the  people.  Its  leaders  were  all  officers 
in  the  Roman  army,  whose  aim  was  self-aggrandizement.  The 
two  great  elements  of  Gaulish  nationality,  the  nobility  and  the 
priesthood,  had  been  absorbed  and  assimilated  by  the  Empire.  The 
nobles  were  content  to  become  centurions  and  tribunes ;  the  Druids 
rejoiced  in  the  titles  and  pensions  of  augurs  and  flamens.  We  shall 
hear  no  more  either  of  one  or  of  the  other. 

Contemporary  with  these  events  in  the  West  was  the  last  des- 
perate struggle  of  the  Jews  for  their  national  independence,  which 
issued  in  its  final  extinction  by  Titus. 

Under  the  first  five  of  the  Caesars,  Judaea,  though  subject  to  the 
Empire,  generally  enjoyed  a  semblance  of  independent  government 
under  its  native  princes  of  the  family  of  Herod,  passing,  however, 
at  times  under  the  direct  control  of  Roman  officers,  styled  procu- 
rators, who  represented  the  authority  of  the  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Syria.  After  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa,  44  a.  d.,  the 
country  was  permanently  annexed  to  Syria,  and  was  governed  by 
a  procurator,  who  resided  at  Caesarea.  The  Jews  were  at  this  time 
in  a  ferment  of  political  and  religious  excitement.  Many  false 
Christs  appeared,  and  drew,  the  people  after  them.  The  nation  was 
pervaded  by  an  uneasy  expectation  of  some  great  impending  change. 


78  ITALY 

44-69   A.  D. 

Caligula  nearly  caused  an  outbreak  by  his  command  that  his  own 
statue  should  be  erected  in  the  Temple;  his  death  occurred  in  time 
to  avert  a  catastrophe.  Claudius  showed  more  respect  for  their 
religious  scruples,  but  the  violent  temper  of  the  Jews  rendered  the 
task  of  government  a  most  difficult  one,  and  many  oppressions  and 
cruelties  were  exercised  by  the  local  governor  without  the  emperor's 
sanction.  At  last,  under  the  harsher  government  of  Nero,  the 
spirit  of  disaffection  grew  to  a  head,  and  burst  into  open  rebellion. 
The  fanatical  pride  of  the  people,  stimulated  by  their  priests,  asserted 
itself  in  a  tone  of  defiance  which  Rome  would  never  brook,  and 
which  required  to  be  put  down  with  a  strong  hand.  Some  there 
were,  no  doubt,  who  counseled  moderation  and  submission,  but  the 
general  feeling  was  one  of  more  bitter  and  persistent  hostility  than 
Rome  had  anywhere  else  encountered. 

The  resources  of  the  Jews  were  more  formidable  than  might 
be  supposed,  judging  from  their  small  extent  of  territory,  which 
scarcely  exceeded  that  of  Belgium  or  Portugal  in  the  present  day. 
But  the  population  was  unusually  dense,  and  had  been  exempted 
from  the  military  levies  which  had  exhausted  many  provinces. 
The  flower  of  their  youth  had  been  trained  indeed  to  arms,  but 
only  to  serve  under  native  leaders  upon  their  own  soil.  Armed 
troops  of  brigands  were  at  hand  to  swell  the  ranks  of  a  national 
army.  A  sworn  band  of  assassins,  the  Sicarii  (the  men  of  the  dag- 
ger), urged  their  desperate  measures  upon  the  priests  and  nobles 
on  peril  of  their  lives.  The  names  of  Maccabseus,  of  David,  and  of 
Joshua  were  invoked  with  genuine  enthusiasm. 

Casting  aside  the  authority  of  the  procurator  in  Judaea,  and  of 
Agrippa  the  younger  in  Ituraea,  the  Sanhedrim  constituted  itself 
a  priestly  and  revolutionary  government  for  the  whole  of  Palestine. 
They  divided  the  country  into  seven  military  districts,  the  com- 
mand in  Galilee  being  intrusted  to  Josephus,  the  historian.  He 
represented  himself  as  an  able  commander,  but  his  countrymen 
have  regarded  him  with  good  reason  as  a  traitor  to  their  cause. 
Vespasian  was  the  captain  to  whom  the  conduct  of  the  war  was 
intrusted  by  Nero.  Josephus  claims  to  have  held  Iotapata  against 
him  for  forty-seven  days,  but  the  Jewish  historian  was  captured  in 
the  final  assault,  and  thenceforth  became  the  flatterer,  and  perhaps 
the  instrument,  of  the  Romans. 

During  two  campaigns  which  followed  the  fall  of  Iotapata, 
Vespasian  slowly  overran  and  ravaged  the  whole  of  Palestine,  with- 


AFFAIRS     IN     PROVINCES  79 

69-70  A.  D. 

out  attempting  to  attack  Jerusalem.  During  the  struggle  for  the 
succession  in  Rome,  he  withdrew  to  Caesarea,  and  from  the  day 
when  he  was  saluted  emperor  by  the  troops  (69  a.  d.)  he  ceased  to 
direct  the  affairs  of  Palestine,  which  were  committed  to  the  charge 
of  his  son  Titus.  In  the  year  70  a.  d.,  Titus  advanced  with  four 
legions  and  numerous  auxiliaries — a  force  of  80,000  men — upon  the 
devoted  city.  The  defenses  of  Jerusalem,  both  natural  and  artificial, 
were  remarkably  strong.  Behind  them  stood  24,000  trained  war- 
riors and  a  host  of  irregular  combatants ;  but  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  worshipers  assembled  for  the  Passover,  and  shut  up  within 
the  walls,  were  an  element  of  weakness  rather  than  of  strength  in 
the  defense. 

A  yet  more  potent  source  of  weakness  lay  in  the  fierce  factions 
by  which  the  Jews  were  distracted.  Hitherto  the  moderate  party, 
headed  by  Ananus,  the  high-priest,  had  controlled  the  city.  In 
this  great  emergency  all  the  fierce  and  fanatical  spirits,  known  as 
the  party  of  the  Zealots,  flocked  in  from  the  country,  with  Eleazer 
at  their  head.  They  insulted  and  threatened  all  who  were  favor- 
able to  a  compromise  with  Rome,  and  in  a  short  time  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  Temple  and  its  strong  enclosure,  and  forced 
the  whole  people  to  submit  to  their  dictation. 

Titus  advanced  from  the  north,  and  planted  his  camp  on  the 
ridge  of  Scopus.  Provided  with  powerful  engines  and  siege  artil- 
lery, he  proceeded  methodically  to  break  down  the  successive 
defenses;  but  so  energetic  was  the  resistance  offered,  that  he  did 
not  effect  a  lodgment  within  the  first  wall  without  heavy  loss. 
All  attempts  at  conciliation  were  savagely  rejected,  and  the  besiegers 
blockaded  the  second  circuit  and  the  fortress  of  Antonia.  Famine 
soon  prevailed  among  the  Jews,  who  suffered  the  direst  horrors. 
The  terrors  of  the  people  were  excited  by  the  report  of  prodigies. 
The  fanatic  Hanan  traversed  the  streets  crying,  "  Woe  to  Jeru- 
salem !  "  till  at  last,  exclaiming,  "  Woe  to  me  also !  "  he  fell  by 
a  blow  from  a  Roman  catapult.  The  Romans  affirmed  that  the 
gates  of  the  Temple  had  burst  open  of  their  own  accord,  and  a 
voice  more  than  human  had  been  heard  exclaiming,  "  Let  us  depart 
hence." 

The  tower  of  Antonia  fell,  and  the  Temple  became  untenable. 
John  and  Simon,  united  in  their  last  danger,  retired  into  the  upper 
city  on  Zion,  breaking  down  the  causeway  which  connected  it  with 
the  Temple   on   Moriah.     The  Temple   itself  was   stormed,   and, 


80  ITALY 

69-70  A.  D. 

contrary  to  the  orders  of  Titus,  destroyed  by  fire.  Josephus  was 
now  sent  to  parley  with  the  besieged,  but  was  spurned  by  them  as 
a  renegade.  Titus  himself  tried  in  vain  to  bring  them  to  terms. 
Such  clemency  was  unexampled;  but  his  patience  was  now  ex- 
hausted, and  he  vowed  to  destroy  the  entire  city.     The  attack  pro- 


ceeded. Thousands  of  Jews  fell  in  unavailing  sallies ;  thousands 
died  of  famine ;  the  remainder  were  captured  and  sold  into  slavery. 
The  two  leaders  endeavored  to  escape  into  the  country  by  rock- 
hewn  galleries  underneath  the  city.  They  failed,  and  were  cap- 
tured. John  was  imprisoned  for  life.  Simon  was  reserved  to  grace 
the  conqueror's  triumph.  Titus,  whom  the  soldiers  had  saluted 
Tmperator,  hastened  to  Rome  for  fear  lest  his  father's  jealousy 
might  be  excited  against  him.  But  Vespasian  was  a  man  of  sense 
and  feeling,  and  the  confidence  between  father  and  son  was  never 
shaken. 


Chapter   XII 

THE   FLAVIAN    EMPERORS— VESPASIAN,   TITUS    AND 
DOMITIAN.     70-96  a.d. 

THE  accession  of  Vespasian,  the  head  of  the  Flavian  house, 
marks  an  epoch  in  Roman  history.  The  first  six  emperors 
born  or  adopted  into  the  family  of  the  Julii  might  boast 
of  blue  patrician  blood,  illustrated  from  ancient  times  by  consuls 
and  imperators  and  other  leaders  of  men.  Even  after  the  death 
of  Nero,  a  Sulpicius,  a  Salvius,  or  a  Vitellius,  if  he  had  been  per- 
sonally successful,  might  have  transferred  to  his  own  family  that 
halo  of  divinity  by  which  the  Julii  had  seemed  to  reign  by  right 
divine ;  for  they  all  belonged  to  the  class  to  which  the  tradition  of 
power  attached  in  Rome.  Vespasian,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a 
man  of  low  birth.  The  Flavii  were  not  only  plebeians,  but  ple- 
beians whose  gens  had  never  been  ennobled  by  a  single  distin- 
guished ancestor.  Vespasian  had  risen  to  eminence  by  his  own 
prudence  and  ability,  and  was  now  thrust  upon  the  astonished  Senate 
by  the  will  of  the  soldiers.  The  people  welcomed  the  choice;  and 
the  fortunate  accident  which  made  the  Flavii  the  defenders  of  the 
Capitol  when  assailed  by  impious  adversaries  might  seem  to  sanc- 
tify the  new  dynasty  in  the  eyes  of  a  superstitious  people,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  deification  of  Vespasian  after  his  death,  and 
the  ascription  of  divine  honors  to  Domitian  even  during  his  lifetime. 
During  the  ten  years  of  Vespasian's  tranquil  reign  he  applied 
himself  to  the  restoration  of  the  finances  which  had  been  squandered 
by  Nero.  Loyally  supported  by  the  legions  and  their  officers,  he 
compelled  his  troops  to  rest  content  with  moderate  rewards.  As 
a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Galba,  the  Latin  right  was  conceded  to 
the  whole  of  Spain.  On  the  other  hand,  Greece,  which  had  been 
enfranchised  by  Nero,  was  again  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a 
taxable  province.  Many  dependent  kingdoms  and  republics  in 
the  East  were  absorbed  into  the  Empire.  It  need  not  surprise  us 
that  Vespasian  was  charged  with  parsimony  and  avarice,  when  we 
learn  that  he  estimated  the  needs  of  the  public  treasury  at  four 

81 


82  ITALY 

70-79  A.  D. 

myriad  millions  of  sesterces,  or  about  $1,600,000,000.  To  replace 
the  old  republican  nobility,  which  was  becoming  extinct,  Vespasian 
created  new  nobles,  taken  from  the  able  men  throughout  the  Empire, 
a  nobility  of  merit,  which  on  the  whole  was  loyal  to  the  emperor. 
The  result  was  to  improve  morals  in  the  Capital  and  incidentally 
education,  for  the  new  nobles  employed  the  public  teachers  hired  by 
the  emperor  instead  of  private  tutors,  as  the  old  nobles  had  done. 

Vespasian  knew  how  to  spend  wisely  as  well  as  how  to  save. 
His  vast  constructions  have  already  been  mentioned,  but  he  deserves 
especial  credit  as  the  first  of  Roman  emperors  who  expended  public 
money  on  a  system  of  national  education.  He  aimed  at  attaching 
the  literary  class  to  the  Empire,  and  the  appointment  of  Ouintilian, 
the  rhetorician,  to  the  consulship  marks  the  increased  estimation 
in  which  the  class  of  teachers  was  held.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
he  found  it  impossible  to  show  similar  favor  to  the  philosophers 
of  the  Stoic  and  Cynic  schools.  Resenting  the  brutality  of  the 
soldiers,  these  men  intrigued  against  the  government  which  rested 
on  them  for  support.  Vespasian  revived  against  them  the  persecut- 
ing laws  of  the  Republic,  and  drove  them  out  of  the  city;  and  his 
memory  must  always  suffer  for  the  execution  of  Helvidius  Priscus, 
the  great  luminary  of  the  Stoics. 

At  the  ripe  age  of  seventy,  full  of  toils  and  honors,  Vespasian 
died  of  natural  decay,  demanding  in  his  last  moments  to  be  raised 
upright,  as  "  an  imperator  ought  to  die  standing."  From  the  day 
when  the  legions  in  the  East  had  saluted  Titus  by  the  title  of  im- 
perator, his  father  had  wisely  admitted  him  to  a  substantial  share 
of  power.  Titus  in  return  had  relieved  him  from  some  of  the  most 
dangerous  and  invidious  tasks  of  government;  he  came  to  the 
undivided  sovereignty  not  without  a  character,  at  least  among  the 
nobles,  for  craft  and  cruelty;  but  he  was  still  the  darling  of  the 
soldiers  and  a  favorite  with  the  people.  He  bore  the  reputation  of 
a  scholar  and  a  refined  thinker,  and  he  was,  on  account  of  his  gen- 
eral kindliness,  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  emperors. 

During  his  short  reign  Titus  won  the  respect  and  affection 
of  all  classes,  but  especially  of  the  nobles.  To  their  grateful  recol- 
lection we  doubtless  owe  the  preservation  of  his  famous  dictum 
that  he  had  "  lost  a  day  "  when  he  had  let  twenty-four  hours  pass 
without  the  performance  of  some  beneficent  action.  Two  years 
after  his  accession  he  died  of  premature  decline,  and  had  no  choice 
but  to  nominate  his  unworthy  brother  Domitian  as  his  successor. 


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THE     FLAVIAN     EMPERORS  83 

79-84  A.    D. 

Perhaps  his  early  death  saved  him  from  the  downward  course 
which  so  many  gallant  princes  had  run  before  him.  His  profuse 
expenditure  had  already  exhausted  the  treasures  accumulated  by 
Vespasian ;  and  even  Titus,  "  the  delight  of  the  human  race,"  as 
he  was  fondly  termed,  could  hardly  have  escaped  the  stain  of  cruelty 
in  his  efforts  to  replace  them.  This  short  principate  witnessed  two 
grave  calamities.  A  fire,  scarcely  less  disastrous  than  that  in  the 
reign  of  Nero,  swept  over  the  city,  damaging  the  new  temple  on 
the  Capitol,  and  destroying  many  public  buildings  which  had  es- 
caped the  earlier  conflagration.  Still  more  renowned  in  history  is 
the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  by  which  the  cities  of  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii  were  destroyed  in  79  a.  d.,  the  one  buried  under  a  flood 
of  molten  lava,  the  other  under  a  shower  of  burning  ashes. 

The  first  of  the  Flavian  emperors  had  displayed,  even  upon 
the  throne,  the  frugality,  the  simplicity,  and  the  manly  firmness 
which  were  characteristic  of  the  yeomen  of  the  Sabine  hills.  His 
sons  were  not  proof  against  the  seductions  of  a  court  and  city  life ; 
and  the  younger  of  them,  Domitian,  who  now  assumed  the  imperial 
purple,  showed  a  marked  deterioration  of  character.  His  jealousy 
of  the  military  renown  of  his  father  and  brother  failed  to  arouse 
him  to  deeds  of  warlike  prowess;  and  though  a  student  during  his 
years  of  obscurity,  he  never  emulated  his  brother's  fame  as  a  scholar. 
A  pedant  and  a  disciplinarian  toward  the  vices  of  others,  he  was 
cruel  and  licentious  himself. 

His  lieutenant  in  Britain,  Agricola,  carried  the  Roman  eagles 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Mersey  and  the  Trent.  Taking  the 
command  in  the  year  78  a.  d.  he  completed  the  conquest  of  North 
Wales  and  then  advanced  his  camps  to  the  line  of  the  Tyne  and  the 
Solway.  He  was  here  confronted  by  the  wild  and  restless  tribes  of 
Caledonia,  and  in  seven  successive  campaigns  he  reduced  the  coun- 
try as  far  north  as  the  Tay.  At  the  same  time  his  fleet  explored  the 
coast  as  far  as  Cape  Wrath,  and  proved  that  Britain  was  an  island ; 
while  some  of  his  land  troops,  from  the  Mull  of  Galloway,  beheld  the 
coast  of  Ireland,  a  new  region,  which  he  was  assured  might  be  con- 
quered by  a  single  legion.  So  much  success  excited  the  jealousy  of 
Domitian,  and  Agricola  was  recalled  to  Rome,  where  he  lived  in 
high  honor  with  both  prince  and  people  for  several  years. 

Domitian's  vanity  would  not  be  satisfied  without  an  arch  of 
triumph  to  rival  that  of  his  brother.  His  colossal  equestrian  statue 
was  already  erected  in  front  of  his  father's  temple.     The  people,  at 


84.  ITALY 

84-95   A.  D. 

the  same  time,  demanded  games  and  shows  in  increasing  profusion. 
To  meet  all  these  expenses,  in  the  absence  of  plunder  from  abroad, 
he  was  obliged  to  levy  large  gifts,  under  the  name  of  golden  crowns, 
on  the  nobles  and  provincials  of  the  Empire.  Such  a  course  of 
action  produced  its  natural  consequence,  discontent,  which  culmi- 
nated before  long  in  insurrection.  L.  Antonius  Saturninus,  a  de- 
scendant both  of  the  triumvir  and  of  the  popular  tribune,  com- 
manded two  legions  on  the  Rhine.  He  seduced  his  own  soldiers, 
and  made  an  alliance  with  the  German  tribes  across  the  frontier. 
His  plan  was  to  march  on  Rome  in  the  winter  season,  and,  trusting 
to  the  unpopularity  of  the  emperor,  to  strike  a  blow  for  power.  He 
was,  however,  quickly  defeated  and  slain.  Domitian,  who  had  faced 
the  emergency  with  courage,  took  steps  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  an  attempt.  He  broke  up  the  armies  of  the  Empire  into  smaller 
commands,  and  forbade  the  hoarding  of  any  considerable  sums  of 
money  in  the  military  chests.  At  the  same  time  he  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  wreak  his  vengeance  by  arbitrary  executions  upon  all  who 
had  excited  his  suspicion. 

In  one  respect  it  must  be  owned  that  Domitian's  rule  was 
directed,  however  inconsistently,  to  the  good  of  the  public.  He  was 
a  disciplinarian,  and  he  determined  to  try  to  reform  the  morals  of 
his  people.  His  religion  was  a  vile  superstition,  but,  such  as  it  was, 
he  was  in  earnest  about  it.  He  began  by  inquiring  into  the  irregu- 
larities imputed  to  certain  of  the  Vestal  Virgins.  Two  of  them 
were  convicted,  and  mercifully  allowed  to  take  their  own  lives ;  a 
third,  Cornelia,  was  condemned  to  suffer  the  full  penalty  of  the  law, 
that  is,  to  be  walled  up  alive  with  only  a  crust  of  bread  and  a  flask 
of  water.  With  the  same  object — viz.,  to  propitiate  the  divine 
patrons  of  marriage — he  enforced  the  laws  against  adultery,  and 
put  some  check  upon  the  spread  of  disgusting  forms  of  Oriental 
effeminacy.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  one  of  his  own  special  favor- 
ites was  the  actor  Paris,  who  was  infamous  for  his  dissolute  life, 
the  imperial  reformer  next  directed  his  severities  against  the  singers 
and  dancers  in  the  theaters.  With  the  mimes,  according  to  ancient 
precedent,  were  included  the  astrologers,  and  the  same  proscription 
was  further  extended  to  the  philosophers,  so  that  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  the  most  noted  moral  teacher  of  his  time,  was  expelled, 
with  others  of  his  class,  from  Italy.  The  Christians,  whose  prog- 
ress among  the  upper  classes  was  beginning  to  excite  alarm,  did  not 
escape  persecution.     Flavius   Clemens,   a  cousin  of  the  emperor, 


THE     FLAVIAN     EMPERORS  85 

95-96  A.  D. 

was  sentenced  to  death  on  a  charge  of  Judaizing;  he  has  always 
been  reckoned  among  the  Christian  martyrs. 

Domitian  teased  and  irritated  air  classes,  and  his  cruelties 
were  wont  to  be  aggravated  by  a  certain  grim  humor.  He  lived 
in  constant  fear  of  assassination,  and  surrounded  himself  with 
guards  and  informers;  but  all  his  precautions  failed  to  secure  him. 
A  child  is  said  to  have  found  in  his  chamber  the  tablets  on  which  he 
had  designated  the  empress  and  some  of  his  own  household  for 
death.  A  plot  was  at  once  formed  in  the  palace,  and  the  blow  was 
struck  by  the  freedman  Stephanus.  Thus  the  noblest  blood  of 
Rome  was  avenged  by  menials  in  96  a.  d. 


Chapter  XIII 

PROSPERITY  OF  THE  EMPIRE  UNDER  NERVA,  TRAJAN, 
AND    HADRIAN.    96-138 

BY  the  death  of  Domitian,  the  ra^e  of  the  Flavii  expired,  as 
that  of  the  Julii  had  done  before.  'No  heir  existed  who  could 
claim  the  Empire  as  of  right.  Tht  Senate  at  once  asserted 
its  privilege  of  appointing  to  the  vacant  throne;  and  the  elevation 
of  M.  Cocceius  Nerva  by  the  selection  of  the  Senate  marks  another 
important  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Empire.  The  second  century 
a.  d.  is  called  the  Age  of  the  Antonines,  and  comprises  the  reigns 
of  the  "  Five  Good  Emperors  "  and  of  one  of  the  worst  of  emperors 
— Commodus,  the  son  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  This  period  from  96  to 
180  a.  d.  (the  latter  date  being  that  of  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius) 
is  the  Golden  Age  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  is  generally  considered 
one  of  the  happiest  periods  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind.  The 
Empire  enjoyed  internal  peace  and  prosperity.  Domitian  was  the 
last  of  the  "  twelve  Caesars,"  so  called  most  likely  because  Suetonius 
composed  the  biographies  of  those  twelve  only.  His  successors 
continued  to  assume  the  title,  but  they  held  the  office  by  a  very  dif- 
ferent tenure.  Nerva  was  not  the  creation  of  military  power,  nor 
the  descendant  of  a  line  which  owed  its  origin  thereto.  He  was 
the  nominee  of  the  Senate,  and  the  first  of  five  emperors  selected  by 
that  body,  who  were  the  worthiest  rulers  Rome  ever  had,  and  who 
gave  to  the  Empire  more  happiness  and  prosperity  than  any  others. 
Nerva,  too,  was  not  a  native  of  Rome,  nor  even  of  Italy;  his  family 
had  long  been  settled  in  Crete ;  and  after  him  the  emperors  in  long 
succession  were  of  provincial,  if  not  of  foreign,  extraction. 

Nerva  began  his  reign  by  heaping  indignity  on  the  memory  of 
the  murdered  emperor,  and  punishing  the  base  instruments  of  his 
cruelty.  The  praetorians,  indeed,  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  Do- 
mitian's  murderers,  and  Nerva,  though  he  boldly  resisted  the  cry 
of  vengeance,  found  it  impossible  to  shield  them.  As  soon  as  their 
swords  were  sheathed,  he  determined  to  curb  the  pretensions  of 
the  soldiers  by  adopting  as  his  heir  and  partner  in  the  Empire  the 

86 


THE    EMPEROR    MARCH'S    L'LPH'S    TRAJANT'S 

(Born    55    a.  d.     Died    117    A.  n.) 

Hust  in   the   Vatican    Museum,   Rome 


PROSPERITY     OF     EMPIRE  87 

96-100 

best  and  bravest  of  his  officers.  M.  Ulpitis  Trajanus  was  in  com- 
mand on  the  Rhine,  but  his  name  and  character  were  well  known. 
When  Nerva  mounted  the  Capitol  and  proclaimed  his  adoption,  the 
Senate  acquiesced  without  a  demur.  The  praetorian  guards  trembled 
before  the  legions  of  a  resolute  chief,  and  shrunk  back  into  their 
camp.  The  aged  Nerva,  by  this  master  stroke  of  policy,  firmly 
established  his  authority,  and  continued  to  exercise  it  in  dignified 
tranquillity  till  death  removed  him  after  a  short  reign  of  sixteen 
months. 

No  one  dreamed  of  opposing  the  lawful  succession  of  Trajan. 
He  belonged  to  a  good  old  Roman  family,  long  settled  in  Spain, 
in  which  country  he  had  been  born.  As  a  soldier  and  a  provincial, 
he  might  be  disposed  to  content  himself  with  the  command  of  the 
legions  at  a  distance,  and  to  leave  the  government  of  the  city  in 
the  hands  of  the  Senate.  So,  doubtless,  hoped  the  nobles,  and  so 
it  proved  to  be.  Trajan,  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  age  and  confident 
in  his  own  ability,  had  not  yet  reaped  his  laurels,  but  was  eager  to 
gain  triumphs  and  annex  provinces.  He  rekindled  in  the  Romans 
the  old  spirit  of  conquest,  and,  cheered  by  their  applause,  devoted 
the  greater  part  of  his  reign  to  two  great  enterprises,  the  subjuga- 
tion of  a  vast  territory  beyond  the  Danube,  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  Parthian  Empire  on  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris. 

Trajan,  on  receiving  the  reins  of  power  at  Cologne,  at  once 
sent  a  promise  to  the  Senate  that  no  member  of  that  body  should 
suffer  capital  punishment  under  his  rule.  Before  quitting  the  prov- 
ince he  secured  the  Rhenish  frontier  by  establishing  new  colonies 
and  military  stations.  He  threw  a  bridge  across  the  river  at  Mainz, 
and  advanced  the  outposts  of  the  Empire  to  Hochst  and  Baden. 
He  then  repaired  to  Rome,  and,  as  we  learn  from  the  courtly  "  Pan- 
egyric "  of  Pliny,  won  the  favor  of  all  classes  of  the  citizens  by  his 
gracious  demeanor.  So  secure  was  he  of  the  loyalty  of  the  soldiers 
that  he  ventured  to  reduce  by  one-half  the  customary  largess.  When 
he  handed  to  the  prefect  of  the  praetorians  the  poniard  which  was 
the  symbol  of  his  office,  he  could  boldly  say,  "  Use  this  for  me,  if 
I  do  well;  if  ill,  against  me."  The  popularity  of  Trajan  was  al- 
ready, during  this  brief  sojourn,  so  unbounded,  that  the  Senate 
conferred  upon  him,  in  addition  to  the  usual  imperial  titles,  the  tran- 
scendent appellation  of  "  Optimus  "  (the  best),  a  distinction  which 
was  never  enjoyed  by  any  other  emperor. 

Meanwhile  the  legions  on  the  frontiers  were  longing  for  active 


88  I  T  A  I.  Y 

100-114 

warfare,  and  their  imperator  was  as  eager  for  fresh  triumphs  as 
themselves.  But  he  determined  not  to  meet  the  expenses  of  war 
by  imposing  fresh  burdens  of  taxation  on  the  citizens.  His  cam- 
paign should  be  self-supporting,  and  should  enrich  the  treasury  by 
adding  new  regions  to  the  list  of  tributary  provinces.  The  Romans 
were  still,  as  it  proved,  a  martial  nation,  and  well  disposed  to  second 
the  bold  advance  of  Trajan.  Between  the  Danube  and  the  Car- 
pathians lay  the  wild  tract  of  mountain,  plain,  and  forest  known 
as  Dacia,  represented  on  the  modern  map  by  the  countries  of  Hun- 
gary, Transylvania,  and  Roumania.  The  Dacian  tribes  were 
swayed  by  a  single  ruler  known  to  the  Romans  by  the  name  or  title 
of  Decebalus.  In  the  year  101  a.  d.  Trajan  began  the  conquest  of 
this  region.  Marshaling  his  forces  at  Sissek,  on  the  Save,  he  de- 
scended the  stream  into  the  Danube.  Along  the  bank  of  this  great 
river  he  constructed  a  road,  and  at  Severin  he  spanned  the  current 
with  a  solid  bridge  whose  foundations  may  still  at  times  be  seen. 
At  the  end  of  two  campaigns  he  had  overrun  much  of  the  country, 
and  had  occupied  the  royal  city,  where  he  afterward  planted  his 
colony  of  Ulpia  Trajana.  The  hill  fortress  of  Decebalus  was 
stormed  and  the  conquered  chief,  together  with  his  nobles,  de- 
stroyed themselves  (104  a.  d.).  The  Column  of  Trajan  ,still  stands 
at  Rome,  and  bears,  in  its  bronze  reliefs,  the  record  of  this  conquest ; 
around  its  base  still  stretches  the  open  space  of  Trajan's  Forum, 
and  the  ruins  of  the  temple  erected  there  at  a  later  period  for  the 
worship  of  his  divinity.  Dacia  was  completely  subjugated  and  so 
effectually  colonized  by  the  Romans  that  to  this  day  the  language 
of  the  people  is  substantially  the  Latin  tongue. 

On  his  return  to  Rome  (106  a.  d.),  Trajan  devoted  himself  to 
adorning  the  city  -and  the  Empire  with  splendid  constructions,  de- 
fraying the  expenses  out  of  the  tribute  of  his  conquered  province, 
and  building  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  people.  At  Ancona  the 
Arch  of  Trajan  still  reminds  the  traveler  that  that  chief  port  of 
the  Adriatic  was  constructed  by  him.  The  port  of  Civita  Vecchia 
is  to  this  day  sheltered  by  Trajan's  Mole ;  another  of  his  works  was 
the  existing  bridge  over  the  Tagus  at  Alcantara.  A  writer,  three 
centuries  later,  says  that  "Trajan  built  the  world  over;"  and  Con- 
stantine  compared  him  to  a  wall-flower,  because  his  name  so  often 
met  the  eye  inscribed  upon  his  buildings. 

After  an  interval  of  eight  years,  devoted  to  works  of  peace 
and  to  the  administration  of  a  beneficent  government,  Trajan  quit- 


PROSPERITY     OF     EMPIRE  89 

114-117 

ted  the  city  for  the  East,  to  reduce  the  Parthians  to  submission. 
Chosroes,  the  Parthian  ruler,  alarmed  by  his  advance,  sent  envoys  to 
propitiate  him,  but  the  presents  they  bore  were  rejected.  At  An- 
tioch  delay  was  caused  by  a  tremendous  earthquake,  in  which  vast 
numbers  of  people,  including"  one  of  the  Roman  consuls,  perished, 
and  the  emperor  narrowly  escaped  destruction.  After  repairing  the 
losses  caused  by  this  disaster,  he  led  his  legions  to  the  frontier  of 
Armenia,  and  summoned  to  his  presence  the  usurper  Parthamasiris. 
This  prince  was  required  to  lay  his  diadem  at  the  feet  of  Trajan, 
and  formally  to  acknowledge  that  his  kingdom  belonged  to  Rome. 
After  suffering  grave  indignities,  he  was  dismissed,  and  if  the  his- 
tory may  be  trusted,  was  waylaid  and  murdered,  to  the  disgrace  of 
the  emperor  who  gave  the  order. 

Having  thus  settled  the  position  of  Armenia,  Trajan  advanced 
upon  the  Parthians  by  the  same  route  which  had  proved  fatal  to 
Crassus,  but,  unlike  the  luckless  triumvir,  he  drove  the  enemy  be- 
fore him,  established  himself  firmly  in  the  region  of  Adiabene,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  115  had  constituted  the  new  province 
of  Assyria  beyond  the  Tigris,  and  had  justly  earned  the  title  of 
Parthicus. 

The  winter  was  passed  at  Nisibis  or  Edessa,  and  early  in  the 
spring  of  116  the  Roman  army  descended  the  Euphrates  by  water. 
The  Parthian  monarch  fled  into  Media,  and  his  capital,  Ctesiphon, 
surrendered  without  a  blow.  Trajan  advanced  through  Babylonia 
to  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  longed  to  rival  the  achieve- 
ments of  Alexander.  But  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country  behind 
him  convinced  him  that  he  had  reached  his  limit.  On  his  return 
march  he  stormed  and  destroyed  Seleucia,  and  on  reaching  Ctesi- 
phon placed  a  creature  of  his  own  on  the  throne  of  Parthia.  Ar- 
menia and  Mesopotamia,  with  some  portion  of  Arabia,  were  reduced 
to  the  form  of  provinces;  but  they  were  never  solidly  incorporated 
with  the  Empire,  and  before  their  conqueror  had  reached  Antioch 
on  his  homeward  march,  they  had  already  severed  the  unwelcome 
connection.  Trajan  had  been  wounded  in  an  attack  upon  the  little 
fortress  of  Atra,  and  did  not  live  to  see  Rome  again.  He  died  in 
117  at  Selinus,  in  Cilicia,  after  a  short  illness.  He  had  reached  the 
age  of  sixty-five,  and  had  reigned  nineteen  years  and  a  half.  Though 
more  of  a  rough  soldier  than  a  courtly  scholar,  his  manners  were 
kindly  and  gracious,  and  he  has  left  a  higher  name  than  any  of  his 
predecessors  in  the  purple  for  generosity  and  manliness  of  charac- 


90  ITALY 

114-117 

tcr.  He  deserved  to  be  the  favorite,  as  he  was,  both  of  the  nobles 
and  of  the  people,  both  of  the  city  and  of  the  provinces. 

Trajan's  expedition  to  the  East  may  very  probably  have  been 
caused  by  the  uneasiness  of  the  rulers  of  the  Empire  about  the 
restless  intrigues  of  the  Jews,  and  a  vague  consciousness  of  the 
growing  numbers  of  the  Christians,  who,  for  aught  they  knew, 
might  be  aiming  in  secret  at  political  ends.  After  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  the  Jewish  hopes  of  a  Messiah  were  carefully  inquired 
into,  and  all  who  pretended  to  a  descent  from  David  were  prose- 
cuted. But  the  Jewish  religion  was  still  tolerated  at  Rome,  and 
throughout  the  Empire,  as  a  national  cult.  The  Christians,  as 
professing  an  irregular  and  unrecognized  creed,  were  outside  the 
protection  of  the  law,  and  during  the  Flavian  period  a  wave  of 
persecution  passed  over  them.  When,  however,  it  became  evident 
that  these  new  sectaries  cherished  no  schemes  of  rebellion,  the 
authorities  relaxed  their  severity,  and  were  content  to  require  of 
them  the  acknowledgment  that  "  Caesar  was  their  master." 

During  Trajan's  reign  Pliny  the  younger  was  governor  of 
Bithynia,  and  persons  were  often  charged  before  him  with  the 
crime  of  being  Christians.  His  practice  was  to  question  them,  and 
if  they  boldly  confessed  the  fact,  he  considered  it  to  be  his  plain 
duty  to  condemn  them  to  death.  Finding,  however,  that  this 
treatment  only  increased  their  numbers,  and  convinced  of  the  moral 
innocence  of  his  victims,  he  wrote  to  the  emperor  for  instructions 
on  the  subject.  Trajan  recommended  mild  measures,  commanding 
that  the  Christians  should  not  be  sought  for,  and  that  denuncia- 
tions of  them,  which  emanated  chiefly  from  the  Jews,  should  be 
discouraged.  Still,  if  any  were  accused,  and  professed  their  guilt, 
the  majesty  of  the  law  must  be  upheld.  Meantime  multitudes  of 
Jews  as  well  as  of  Roman  citizens  continued  to  join  the  new  relig- 
ion. The  East  was  rife  with  reports  and  expectations  of  a  coming 
deliverer.  The  conflagrations  at  Rome  and  the  fatal  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  added  to  the  alarm  produced  by  the  Christian  prophecies 
of  an  approaching  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire.  The  claim 
of  the  Christians  to  superior  morality  excited  the  passions  of  the 
populace  which  is  always  intolerant  of  such  professions.  The 
manifest  fact  that  a  secret  association,  uniting  in  its  bonds  num- 
bers of  persons  of  every  class,  was  advancing  in  power  and  organi- 
zation, disturbed  the  minds  of  the  rulers,  who  were  accustomed 
ruthlessly  to  suppress  every  combination  of  the  kind.     All  these 


THE    EMPEROR    Pl'RLIl'S    AEI.H'S    HADRIAXl'S 

(  I'.urn    76    A.  d.      Died     138    a.  n.) 

Bust  in   tlic   I'atictin    Museum,  Rome 


PROSPERITY     OF     EMPIRE  91 

114-119 

influences  seem  to  have  been  kindled  into  fierce  activity  by  the 
coincidence  of  a  destructive  earthquake  with  the  emperor's  visit  to 
Antioch.  The  fanaticism  and  terror  of  the  sufferers  broke  forth 
against  the  Christians,  and  Trajan  stained  his  good  name  by  en- 
couraging a  cruel  persecution,  which  became  memorable  for  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Christian  bishop  Ignatius  in  the  arena  of  Antioch. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Jews,  driven  from  their  own  land,  and 
scattered  throughout  the  East,  were  intriguing  in  every  city,  in 
Alexandria,  in  Antioch,  even  in  distant  Seleucia,  striving  to  unite 
their  own  people  in  a  combined  movement  against  the  might  of 
Rome,  stirring  up  Parthians,  Armenians,  and  Arabians  against  the 
common  enemy.  All  these  schemes  had  been  disconcerted  by  Tra- 
jan's sudden  and  vigorous  expedition,  but  his  conquests,  though 
brilliant,  had  lacked  stability,  and  it  became  an  embarrassing  prob- 
lem for  his  successor  whether  to  maintain  or  to  relinquish  them. 
"  Trajan's  administration  was  energetic,  just,  and  humane.  He  had 
the  strength  to  punish  evil-doers ;  he  repealed  oppressive  taxes,  and 
costly  as  were  his  wars  and  his  buildings  he  laid  no  new  burden  on 
his  people."  1 

On  Trajan's  death  without  issue,  the  Empress  Plotina  at  once 
announced  his  chosen  heir  to  be  P.  ^Elius  Hadrianus,  his  cousin, 
and,  like  himself,  of  Spanish  birth  (117  A.  d.).  Both  Senate  and 
people  acquiesced  in  the  choice,  for  Hadrian  was  distinguished  for 
virtue  and  ability.  The  remains  of  Trajan  were  conveyed  to  Rome, 
and  buried  beneath  his  column.  Hadrian  lingered  in  the  East  to 
pacify  the  disaffected  provinces,  and  wisely  determined  to  return  to 
the  policy  of  Augustus,  to  restrict  the  limits  of  the  Empire,  and  to 
abandon  the  recent  conquests.  Then  he  returned  to  Rome  to  receive 
the  homage  of  the  Senate,  and  began  his  reign  in  a  spirit  of  modera- 
tion and  liberality. 

Full  of  activity  both  of  mind  and  body,  Hadrian  visited  every 
province  of  the  Empire,  commanding  the  legions  in  person  wherever 
danger  threatened,  and  leaving  marks  of  his  progress  in  public 
buildings  and  in  improved  government.  His  first  expedition  was 
to  the  new  Dacian  province,  which  was  threatened  by  encroaching 
tribes  of  Sarmatians.  At  the  head  of  his  legions  he  defeated  these 
barbarians,  but  deemed  it  wiser,  after  his  first  success,  to  withdraw 
behind  the  Danube,  and  even  to  break  down  Trajan's  Bridge. 

After  a  short  interval  spent  at  Rome,  Hadrian  visited  the 
1  Botsforcl,  "  History  of  Rome,"  p.  249. 


92  ITALY 

119-134 

North  of  Britain,  where  the  Caledonian  tribes  were  giving  much 
trouble.  Here  he  built  roads  and  military  stations,  fortified  the 
country  from  sea  to  sea  between  the  camps  of  Agricola  on  the  Tyne 
and  the  Solway,  building  "  Hadrian's  wall,"  bridged  the  Tyne  at 
Newcastle,  and  fixed  the  provincial  government  at  York.  The 
mineral  wealth  of  the  North  of  England  was  then  attracting  numer- 
ous settlers,  as  it  did  again  so  conspicuously  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  From  Britain  he  passed  on  through  Gaul  and  Spain,  and 
crossed  the  Mediterranean  to  quiet  some  disturbances  in  Mauretania. 
Thence  he  turned  his  steps  to  the  extreme  eastern  frontier,  where 
the  restless  Parthians  were  again  menacing  war.  In  a  personal 
interview,  he  prevailed  on  Chosroes  to  leave  the  Empire  at  peace. 
Journeying  homeward  through  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  he  stayed 
long  at  Athens,  and,  after  visiting  Rome  and  Carthage,  returned 
once  more  to  the  East — to  Athens,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria. 

In  the  course  of  sixty  years  since  the  campaigns  of  Vespasian 
and  Titus,  the  Jews  in  Palestine  had  increased  in  numbers,  and 
they  now  broke  into  a  fierce  insurrection  headed  by  Bar-Cochebas, 
the  "  Son  of  the  Star."  Hadrian  had  inquired  curiously  into  many 
religions,  that  of  the  Jews  among  others.  They  had  hoped  he  had 
become  a  proselyte,  and  they  now  denounced  him  as  an  apostate ;  but 
he  ruthlessly  put  down  their  rebellion,  slaughtered  their  people  in 
vast  numbers,  and  planted  the  colony  of  TElia  Capitolina  on  the  site 
of  their  sacred  city. 

Hadrian  distinguished  between  the  Jews  and  the  Christians. 
The  latter  he  recognized  as  loyal  citizens,  and  discouraged  the  local 
persecutions  to  which  they  were  exposed.  During  his  sojourn  at 
Athens,  they  ventured  to  approach  him  as  a  seeker  after  truth ; 
and  he  listened  graciously  to  the  apologies  of  Ouadratus  and  Aris- 
tides,  who  were  famous  for  their  wisdom  and  learning.  At  Athens, 
Hadrian  had  shown  himself  an  intelligent  inquirer  into  the  highest 
questions  of  human  speculation.  At  Alexandria  he  appeared  rather 
as  an  explorer  of  curiosities.  Egypt,  the  granary  of  Rome,  had 
been  jealously  guarded  by  the  emperors  as  their  own  special  prov- 
ince. No  Roman  of  rank  might  even  visit  it  without  express  per- 
mission. 

Hadrian  returned  to  Rome  in  134,  and  began  at  once  to  adorn 
the  city  with  splendid  buildings.  The  temple  of  Venus  and  Roma, 
now  but  the  fragment  of  a  ruin,  was  the  grandest  temple  in  the 
city.     But  his  most  magnificent  work  was  his  own  moles,  or  mau- 


PROSPERITY     OF     EMPIRE  93 

137-138 

solemn,  whose  solid  mass  is  still  conspicuous  in  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angelo.  When  first  erected,  it  had  far  more  of  architectural  orna- 
ment than  now.  Tier  over  tier  of  columns  graced  its  sides,  and 
above  it  soared  a  gilded  dome  surmounted  by  the  statue  of  the 
founder,  who  was  ultimately  buried  beneath  it.  Besides  these  new 
constructions,  Hadrian  restored  many  of  the  older  buildings,  such 
as  the  Pantheon,  the  temple  of  Augustus,  and  the  baths  of  Agrippa. 
He  piqued  himself  on  his  knowledge  of  all  matters,  but  especially 
of  architecture,  and  is  said  to  have  put  Apollodorus,  the  architect, 
to  death  for  an  uncourtly  criticism  of  one  of  his  designs.  Favorinus, 
the  rhetorician,  yielded  to  his  authority  on  questions  of  grammar, 
remarking  that  "  it  is  ill  disputing  with  the  master  of  thirty  legions." 

Hadrian  reigned  supreme  in  the  loyalty  of  the  soldiers,  and  in 
the  favor  of  the  Senate  and  of  all  classes  of  citizens.  Yet  he  chose 
to  associate  with  himself  in  the  purple  a  young  and  frivolous  noble, 
C.  Commodus  Verus.  This  worthless  partner  of  his  empire  was 
intrusted  with  a  command  on  the  Pannonian  frontier,  but  he  soon 
fell  into  a  decline,  and  in  the  third  year  of  his  feeble  sovereignty 
died.  Hadrian  hastened  to  supply  his  place.  Assembling  the 
chiefs  of  the  Senate,  he  announced  to  them  that  his  choice  had  fallen 
on  T.  Aurelius  Antoninus,  a  man  of  mature  age  and  proved  ability. 
The  new  emperor  was  required  to  adopt  two  heirs,  Annius  and 
Lucius  Verus,  both  of  the  family  of  the  lately  deceased  emperor. 

The  life  of  Hadrian  himself  was  not  protracted  beyond  the 
middle  of  this  year  (138).  He  suffered  much  from  maladies  for 
which  medicine  afforded  no  relief,  and  is  said  to  have  become  irri- 
table and  sanguinary  in  his  last  years.  At  one  time  he  would  take 
refuge  in  magical  arts,  at  another  in  poison  or  the  dagger  of  the 
suicide,  but  he  was  kindly  watched  and  tended,  and  expired  in  com- 
parative tranquillity,  leaving  to  the  world  as  his  last  legacy  a  playful 
and  poetical  address  to  his  own  departing  spirit.  "  By  his  thorough 
reforms  he  put  the  machinery  of  government,  as  well  as  the  military 
system,  in  such  order  that  it  continued  to  run  with  little  repair  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years.  Underlying  all  his  work  we  find  this 
principle, — the  armies,  the  governors,  Rome  and  the  emperor  existed 
for  the  welfare  of  the  provinces.  As  he  was  the  first  real  monarch, 
he  was  likewise  the  first  servant  of  the  Empire."  1 

1  Botsford,   "  History  of   Rome,"   p.   253. 


Chapter   XIV 

THE   AGE   OF   THE   ANTONINES.     138-180 

TITUS  AURELIUS  ANTONINUS  was  already  in  his 
fifty-second  year  when  he  began  to  reign.  In  honor  of  his 
adoptive  father,  he  changed  his  style  to  Titus  ^lius 
Hadrianns  Antoninus ;  and  to  this  the  Senate  added  the  epithet  Pius. 
He  is  commonly  known  as  Antoninus  Pius.  He  was  married  to 
Arria  Galeria  Faustina,  and  had  several  children,  but  only  one 
daughter,  Faustina,  survived,  and  her  he  joined  in  marriage  with 
his  nephew  Aurelius,  whom  he  had  adopted  at  the  same  time  as  the 
young  Verus.  The  name  of  Antoninus,  which  was  borne  equally 
by  Pius  and  by  his  successor,  Marcus  Aurelius,  became,  next  to  that 
of  Augustus,  the  most  honored  in  the  long  imperial  series.  The 
Age  of  the  Antonines  is  generally  reckoned  as  beginning  with  the 
accession  of  Nerva.  It  was  a  period  of  peace  and  prosperity,  and 
of  good,  we  may  almost  say  of  constitutional,  government;  but  in 
the  course  of  it  the  ancient  martial  valor  of  the  Roman  people  was 
perishing  for  want  of  exercise. 

The  two  Antonines  were  philosophers  in  the  purple,  who  gov- 
erned their  people,  in  concert  with  the  Senate,  on  the  highest  princi- 
ples of  virtue.  The  elder  could  seat  himself  in  his  library  on  the 
Palatine  and  rule  the  Empire  from  its  center.  But  for  the  exigen- 
cies of  frontier  wars,  the  younger,  Aurelius,  would  have  passed  a 
no  less  studious  life.  Both  of  them,  by  their  promise  to  shed  no 
senator's  blood,  were  pledged  to  frugality  in  the  public  service,  and 
both  redeemed  their  pledge.  Antoninus,  while  he  remitted  some 
customary  taxes,  was  magnificent  in  gifts  and  largesses  and  public 
works,  and  when  the  full  treasury  of  Hadrian  was  emptied,  he 
replenished  it  by  the  sale  of  the  imperial  furniture. 

The  internal  history  of  this  happy  reign  was  entirely  unevent- 
ful. On  the  frontiers,  indeed,  there  was  frequent  trouble,  especially 
on  the  Danube  and  in  Africa,  but  this  mild  prince,  who  judged  it 
better  to  save  one  citizen  than  to  slay  a  thousand  enemies,  adopted 
the  policy  of  buying  off  the  invaders.     In  Britain,  however,  after 

94. 


THE    EMPEROR    ANTON" IX US    PK'S 

(Born    86    a.  d.      Died     161    A.  D.) 

Bust   in    the   Xutional   Museum,    Wiplcs 


THEANTONINES  95 

138-161 

a  revolt  of  the  Brigantes  had  been  put  down,  the  defenses  of  the 
Empire  were  carried  farther  north,  and  a  second  wall  was  built 
across  the  island  between  the  estuaries  of  the  Clyde  and  the  Forth. 
The  space  thus  gained  to  the  Roman  province  between  the  walls  of 
Agricola  and  Antoninus  was  rapidly  filled  up  by  Roman  colonists, 
who  were  constantly  pushing  forward  even  beyond  the  limits  of 
protection.  In  the  most  distant  regions  of  Parthia,  Armenia,  and 
Scythia,  the  Emperor  of  Rome  was  accepted  as  the  supreme  arbiter 
of  national  quarrels.  Yet  the  policy  of  Augustus  was  adhered  to, 
and  the  limits  of  the  Empire  were  not  extended  in  that  direction. 
This  period  of  quiet  equilibrium  was  signalized  by  some  great 
works  of  geographical  interest — the  "  System  of  Geography  "  of 
Ptolemy,  the  "  Itinerary  "  of  Antoninus,  and  the  "  Periplus  of  the 
Euxine  and  of  the  Erythraean  or  Indian  Ocean  "  by  Arrian.  "  The 
firm  edifice  of  Roman  power  was  raised  and  preserved  by  the  wis- 
dom of  ages.  The  obedient  provinces  of  Trajan  and  the  Antonines 
were  united  by  laws  and  adorned  by  arts — the  general  principle  of 
government  was  wise,  simple  and  beneficent."  * 

The  greatest  glory  of  Antoninus  is  the  unremitting  care  with 
which  he  studied  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  his  peo- 
ple. Humanity,  under  him,  made  a  great  step  in  advance.  Not 
content  with  repressing  the  exactions  and  injustice  of  the  tax-col- 
lectors, he  required  his  officers  to  spare  the  needy  and  indulge  the 
unfortunate.  Not  only  did  he  economize  the  public  resources,  but 
he  sacrificed  his  own  fortune  to  the  service  of  the  state.  He  cele- 
brated the  secular  games  with  great  splendor,  and  adorned  the  city 
with  a  graceful  column  as  well  as  by  the  completion  of  Hadrian's 
mausoleum.  The  amphitheater  at  Nismes  and  the  aqueduct  of  the 
Pont  du  Gard,  the  noblest  monuments  of  Roman  art  beyond  the 
Alps,  are  also  ascribed  to  his  munificence.  Antoninus  also  con- 
tributed important  additions  to  the  code  of  Roman  law,  and  his 
judgments  were  marked  by  equity  and  humanity.  His  paternal 
kindness  toward  the  Christians  was  even  more  generous  than  that 
of  Hadrian. 

The  special  characteristic  of  Antoninus  was  his  cheerfulness. 
No  philosophical  dispute,  no  popular  outburst  of  petulance,  could 
disturb  the  serenity  of  his  temper.  Content  with  his  political  sur- 
roundings, with  the  society  of  his  friends,  with  the  religion  of  his 
time,  he  was  troubled  by  no  anxieties.     Power  made  no  difference 

1  Gibbon,  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  Rome,"  Bury's  ed.,  vol.  i.  p.  28. 


96  I  T  A  L  Y 

161-165 

in  him.  Kind,  modest,  affable,  and  abstemious  as  he  had  always 
been,  such  he  continued  to  be  as  emperor.  To  his  unworthy  con- 
sort Faustina  he  was  more  than  forgiving,  taking  no  notice  of  her 
irregularities;  and  when  she  died,  as  fortunately  she  did  in  the 
early  years  of  his  principate,  he  assigned  her  divine  honors,  and 
never  married  again.  After  reigning  for  twenty-three  years,  he 
died,  161  a.  D.,  giving  to  his  guard  as  his  last  watchword,  "  Equa- 
nimity." 

Marcus  Aurelius,  who  now  succeeded  to  the  throne,  had  been 
for  some  time  associated  in  the  government.  In  presiding  on  the 
tribunals,  in  guiding  the  deliberations  of  the  Senate,  in  receiving 
embassies  and  appointing  magistrates,  he  had  shrunk  from  no  fa- 
tigue ;  but  his  heart  was  still  in  his  philosophical  studies.  Plato  had 
maintained  that  states  would  surely  flourish,  were  but  their  philoso- 
phers princes  or  their  princes  philosophers ;  and  the  hope  that  he 
might  prove  this  doctrine  true  encouraged  Aurelius  in  his  under- 
taking. By  Hadrian's  direction,  Antoninus  had  adopted  the  young 
Verus  at  the  same  time  with  Aurelius;  but  he  had  treated  the  two 
on  a  very  different  footing.  While  marrying  Aurelius  to  his  own 
daughter,  and  treating  him  with  confidence  as  his  destined  suc- 
cessor, he  had  excluded  from  public  life  the  weak  son  of  a  dissolute 
sire.  Aurelius  at  once  reversed  this  wise  decision,  and  elevated  his 
brother  to  a  position  equal  to  his  own,  conferring  upon  him 
every  dignity  which  he  enjoyed,  not  even  withholding  the  title  of 
Augustus.  For  the  first  time  two  Augusti  sat  together  in  the 
purple. 

The  first  years  of  the  new  reign  were  troubled  by  disturbances 
in  various  parts  of  the  Empire.  Lusitania  broke  into  insurrection. 
Spain  was  invaded  by  the  Moors.  The  Chatti  crossed  the  frontiers 
into  Gaul  and  Rhastia.  In  Britain  the  legions  were  disaffected.  But 
the  most  serious  alarm  was  caused  by  war  with  Parthia,  and  a  dis- 
aster to  the  Roman  arms  at  Elegia,  on  the  Euphrates,  comparable 
to  that  of  Carrhse.  Aurelius  dispatched  Verus  to  the  East  with  ex- 
perienced officers  to  guide  him ;  but  before  he  reached  the  seat  of 
war,  Avidius  Cassius  had  already  retrieved  the  fortunes  of  the  Em- 
pire by  a  series  of  victories,  which  opened  the  gates  of  Ctesiphon 
and  Seleucia,  and  revived  the  memory  of  Trajan's  conquests.  Verus 
hastened  back  to  Rome,  but  the  returning  army  brought  with  it  the 
seeds  of  a  terrible  pestilence  which  spread  its  devastations  through- 
out the  West.     Famine,  fires,  and  earthquakes    succeeded    to    the 


THEANTONINES  97 

165-180 

plague,  and  the  public  terror  was  brought  to  a  climax  by  the  report 
of  a  powerful  irruption  of  barbarians  across  the  Danube.  Super- 
stitious fears  took  possession  both  of  the  people  and  of  the  prince. 
These  calamities  were  attributed  to  the  anger  of  the  gods,  and  the 
progress  which  the  Christians  were  making  pointed  them  out  as 
suitable  victims  to  appease  the  divine  wrath.  Aurelius  purified  the 
city  by  a  solemn  lustration  and  a  lectisternium  of  seven  days,  and 
then,  to  his  lasting  disgrace,  gave  orders  for  a  cruel  persecution  of 
the  Christians.  The  reasons  why  we  now  come  to  persecutions  of 
the  Christians  are  the  changes  in  the  status  of  the  new  religion. 
Chief  among  these  reasons  was  the  large  increase  in  the  number  of 
the  Christians,  so  that  they  attracted  the  attention  of  the  govern- 
ment; and  among  the  converts  persons  of  the  upper  class  became 
more  numerous.  The  result  was  to  make  the  state  understand  the 
nature  of  the  Christians,  and  while  Rome  had  been  tolerant  toward 
many  forms  of  religion,  Christianity  was  essentially  different.  It 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  gods  of  Rome  or  to  worship  them.  And 
this  inevitably  appeared  like  treason  to  the  .Romans,  in  whose  eyes 
the  welfare  of  the  state  depended  on  the  favor  of  their  gods.  Hence 
it  is  easy  to  see  why  the  best  emperors  were  often  the  most  deter- 
mined persecutors. 

Aurelius  now  set  out  for  the  seat  of  war,  accompanied  by 
Verus.  The  legions  were  sickly  and  desponding;  the  citizens 
scarcely  hoped  for  their  victorious  return.  Already  the  outposts 
were  in  retreat,  and  the  colonists  were  flying  before  a  numerous  and 
organized  host  of  invaders.  But  the  memory  of  Trajan  was  still 
held  in  awe  on  the  Danube.  Before  the  emperors  reached  the  Alps, 
the  shadow  of  their  great  name  had  gone  before  them,  and  sufficed 
to  repel  the  intruders  and  make  them  sue  for  peace.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  they  visited  Illyricum,  and  made  provision  for  the  defense 
of  the  Empire  in  that  quarter;  and  on  their  return  to  Rome,  in  the 
autumn  of  168,  Aurelius  was  relieved,  by  the  death  of  the  feeble 
Verus,  of  one  source  of  anxiety  and  embarrassment.  From  this 
time  forward  Aurelius  knew  no  respite  from  distant  warfare.  One 
great  victory  is  claimed  for  his  arms ;  and  a  final  triumph  began  to 
seem  almost  within  reach,  when  he  was  carried  off  by  a  fever  at 
Vindebona  (Vienna)  180  a.  d.  He  at  least  escaped  the  mortifica- 
tion of  seeing  the  great  Sarmatian  war  closed  by  a  disgraceful 
peace,  which  was  soon  after  purchased  by  the  Romans. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  though  not  endowed  with  brilliant  military 


98  ITALY 

180 

genius,  yet  commanded  his  legions  with  courage  and  earnestness, 
and  was  not  ill  seconded  by  his  officers  and  men.  But  the  armies 
of  Rome  were  no  longer  what  they  once  had  been.  These  troops 
of  foreign  mercenaries  were  not  to  compare  for  martial  vigor  with 
the  old  Italian  militia ;  and  the  population  of  the  Empire  was  se- 
riously crippled  by  the  plague.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans 
and  Scythians  opposed  to  him  flowed  forward  in  irresistible  hordes, 
with  all  the  audacity  that  belongs  to  the  lusty  youth  of  nations. 
From  this  time  forward  the  tide  of  victory  began  to  set  against  the 
Empire.  The  attitude  of  Rome  became  purely  defensive,  and 
though  she  fought  bravely,  her  defense  was  crippled  by  a  sense  of 
weakness,  and  at  length  by  anticipation  of  defeat.  Aurelius  seems 
to  have  perceived,  before  his  countrymen,  this  downward  course  on 
which  the  Empire  was  entering,  and  to  have  been  saddened  by  the 
prospect. 

The  despondency  of  the  imperial  philosopher  is  strongly 
marked  in  the  book  of  "  Meditations,"  in  which  he  closely  analyzes 
his  own  character  and  motives.  Stoicism  had  become  to  this,  the 
last  great  representative  of  the  sect,  more  than  ever  a  matter  of  con- 
science and  religion;  and  as  such  it  not  unnaturally  kindled  in  his 
mind  a  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  professors  of  the  young  and 
vigorous  system  which  was  soon  to  supplant  it. 


THE   EMPEROR    MARCUS    AL'RELITS    AXTOXIXUS 

(Horn    121    a.  11.     Died    180    a.  d.) 

Bust   in   the    Vatican    Museum,  Rome 


Chapter     XV 

TRANSITION    PERIOD   OF    DECLINE.     180-235 

WE  need  not  dwell  long  on  the  reign  of  the  wretched  Com- 
modus,  the  unworthy  son  of  a  noble  father.  At  first 
he  allowed  the  government  to  be  administered  by  the 
wise  statesmen  by  whom  his  father  had  surrounded  him,  and  veiled 
his  own  profligacy  within  his  palace  walls.  But  his  own  sister 
Lucilla  plotted  against  his  life,  and  the  assassin  she  had  hired,  as 
he  aimed  the  blow,  announced  that  it  was  sent  by  the  Senate.  Corn- 
modus  escaped,  but  was  thenceforward  filled  with  deadly  enmity 
against  the  senators,  and  contrived,  on  various  false  accusations,  to 
rid  himself  by  death  or  exile  of  all  the  most  distinguished  among 
them.  The  government  then  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  succession  of 
favorites,  some  of  whom  plotted  against  their  master,  were  detected, 
and  executed,  while  others  were  sacrificed  to  the  clamors  of  the 
discontented  populace. 

The  emperor  maintained  himself  upon  the  throne  by  largesses 
to  the  praetorians  and  extravagant  amusements  for  the  people.  He 
himself  fought  as  a  gladiator  in  the  arena  750  times,  and  delighted 
to  exhibit  his  prowess  by  slaying  hecatombs  of  wild  beasts  with  bow 
or  javelin,  always  under  due  protection.  He  affected  the  character 
of  Hercules,  and  these  barbarous  feats  made  him  a  favorite  with 
the  rabble.  The  provinces  continued  to  enjoy  a  quiet  and  orderly 
government,  but  those  who  came  in  contact  with  the  tyrant  were 
never  safe  from  his  capricious  cruelty.  At  length,  after  twelve 
years  of  empire,  he  was  assassinated  by  his  favorite  concubine 
Marcia,  in  concert  with  Eclectus,  his  chamberlain,  and  Laetus,  the 
prefect  of  the  praetorians. 

Pertinax,  a  distinguished  senator,  was  at  once  put  forward  as 
his  successor,  and  accepted  by  the  praetorians,  by  the  Senate,  and  by 
the  people.  He  was  a  cultivated  and  experienced  statesman  of  the 
same  stamp  as  Galba,  but,  unfortunately,  without  a  military  fol- 
lowing. For  this  reason  he  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  praetorians,  and 
had  no  choice  but  to  buy  their  favor  with  a  liberal  donative.     He 

99 


100  ITALY 

192-197 

had  no  intention,  however,  to  remain  a  mere  puppet  in  their  hands, 
and  soon  began  to  enforce  discipline  among-  them.  This  they  would 
not  endure,  and  before  three  months  had  expired  they  broke  into 
open  mutiny,  forced  their  way  into  the  palace,  fell  upon  the  emperor, 
and  slew  him.  His  short  reign  of  eighty-seven  days  had  been  a  con- 
trast indeed  to  that  of  Commodus.  The  exiles  were  recalled ;  life 
and  property  were  once  more  secure;  and  the  finances  were  recruited 
by  legitimate  means.  There  was  no  power  in  Rome,  nor  even  in 
Italy,  which  could  resist  the  organized  force  of  the  praetorians,  and 
these  mercenaries  proceeded  to  offer  the  Empire  for  sale  to  the 
highest  bidder.  Didius  Julianus,  a  senator,  satisfied  their  rapacity 
by  the  offer  of  a  sum  equal  to  $1000  to  each  of  the  12,000 
soldiers.  He  was  presented  to  the  Senate  as  the  choice  of  the 
soldiers,  and  the  conscript  fathers  could  but  submit  in  silent  wrath 
to  the  force  of  arms,  and  accept  the  upstart  emperor.  Not  so  the 
armies  on  the  frontiers.  In  three  independent  quarters  they  flew  to 
arms. 

The  legions  on  the  Euphrates  saluted  their  commander 
Pescennius  Niger  as  emperor;  those  on  the  Rhine  conferred  the 
purple  on  Clodius  Albinus ;  the  soldiers  who  kept  guard  on  the  Dan- 
ube nominated  Septimius  Severus.  The  last-named  leader  was  an 
African  by  birth,  full  of  energy  and  ability;  and  when  once  the 
movement  was  resolved  on,  he  lost  not  a  moment  in  executing  it. 
His  troops  were  practiced  in  arms,  well  disciplined,  and  near  to 
Italy.  He  led  them  at  once  to  Rome,  and  without  striking  a  blow 
reduced  the  praetorians  to  submission,  captured  the  wretched  Juli- 
anus, and  put  him  to  death,  after  a  reign  of  two  months,  in  193  a.  d. 
The  first  act  of  Septimius  was  to  disarm  and  disperse  the  praetorians 
who  had  supported  his  rival.  He  then  organized  his  own  most 
trusted  legions  as  an  imperial  guard  of  50,000  men.  Leaving  the 
capital  securely  in  their  hands,  he  advanced  steadily  to  the  East  to 
try  conclusions  with  Niger.  Arrived  within  striking  distance,  he 
summoned  him  to  surrender  to  the  emperor  acknowledged  by  the 
Senate.  The  Eastern  pretender,  however,  showed  fight,  but  to  little 
avail;  his  forces  were  defeated,  first  at  the  passage  of  the  Helles- 
pont, and  again  in  the  defiles  of  Cilicia;  he  himself  was  taken  and 
slain. 

Severus  was  now  at  liberty  to  deal  with  his  rival  in  the  West. 
Clodius  Albinus,  though  gluttonous  and  indolent,  was  not  without 
soldierly  qualities,  and  his  troops  were  of  high  mettle.    Severus  en- 


PERIOD     OF     DECLINE  101 

197-211 

countered  him  at  Lugdunum,  in  Gaul.  A  desperate  battle  ensued 
between  the  rival  armies,  and  the  result  was  for  some  time  un- 
certain, but  the  fortune  of  Severus  again  prevailed.  Albinus  was 
routed,  captured,  and  put  to  death.  The  enterprise  of  Severus  was 
crowned  with  complete  success,  not  ill  earned  by  boldness,  energy, 
and  conduct.  In  these  qualities  he  might  fairly  be  compared  to  the 
great  Julius,  but  he  was  wanting  in  the  clemency  which  dis- 
tinguished the  first  Caesar.  On  his  return  to  Rome,  Severus  made  a 
searching  inquisition  into  the  temper  of  the  senators  toward  him, 
and  finding  that  many  among  them  were  kinsmen  or  friends  of  one 
or  other  of  his  late  rivals,  and  that  no  strong  affection  was  felt  for 
him  by  the  remainder,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  strike  terror  by  the 
execution  of  forty  of  their  number.  The  senators  stood  aghast  at 
his  cruelty,  but  they  were  cowed,  and  gave  him  no  further  trouble. 

The  rule  of  Severus  was  a  pure  autocracy ;  but  it  was  equitable 
and  beneficent.  He  spent  little  time  at  Rome,  which  he  could  leave 
securely  guarded  by  his  praetorian  army,  while  the  civil  government 
wTas  carried  on  by  the  lawyer  Papinian.  Papinian's  council  was 
composed  of  able  jurists  who  emphasized  the  theory  that  the  em- 
peror was  above  all  law.  Roman  law  at  this  time  reached  the  high- 
est point  of  its  development;  later  legal  work  was  chiefly  to  sys- 
tematize already  existing  law.  "  In  its  growth  the  Roman  law 
was  in  many  ways  like  the  Anglo-Saxon  law.  It  had  two  chief 
sources,  the  written  or  statute  laws,  made  by  the  people  in  the  days 
of  the  Republic  and  by  the  emperors  later,  and  the  unwritten 
law,  founded  on  the  customs  and  precedents  established  in  the 
administration  of  the  law  courts."  *  Severus  once  more  led  the 
Roman  legions  to  Ctesiphon  and  Seleucia,  and  impressed  upon  the 
Parthians  a  lasting  respect  for  the  power  of  Rome.  In  his  later 
years  he  visited  Britain,  and  penetrated  far  into  the  wilds  of  Cale- 
donia ;  but  he  concluded  that  the  safest  limit  of  the  Empire  was  the 
line  laid  down  by  Hadrian,  which  he  ordered  to  be  strengthened  by 
a  second  rampart.  In  211  a.  d.  Severus  died  at  York,  giving 
as  his  last  watchword  "  Lab  or  emus,"  as  though,  in  his  opinion, 
the  spade  were  quite  as  effective  an  implement  of  war  as  the 
sword. 

Julia  Domna,  the  wife  of  Septimius  Severus,  adorned  her  im- 
perial station  with  many  high  qualities,  but  she  had  the  misfortune 
to  be  the  mother  of  two  princes,  one  of  whom  became  almost  the 

1  Adams,  "European  History,"  p.   115. 


102  ITALY 

211-217 

greatest  monster  of  the  whole  imperial  series.  These  two  brothers, 
Bassianus  (generally  known  by  the  nickname  of  Caracalla),  and 
Geta,  were  present  with  their  father  in  Britain  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  They  both  set  out  at  once  for  Rome,  but  so  ill  disposed  were 
they  toward  each  other  that  they  kept  apart  throughout  the  long  jour- 
ney. The  quarrel  continued  to  rage  between  them  in  the  capital,  till 
at  length  Caracalla  poniarded  his  brother  with  his  own  hand  in  his 
mother's  arms.  The  fratricide  made  no  secret  of  his  crime,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  secure  his  own  safety  by  the  slaughter  of  every  man  and 
woman  whom  he  regarded  as  an  adherent  of  the  murdered  Geta. 
Thousands  perished,  and  among  them  Fadilla,  the  last  surviving 
daughter  of  Aurelius,  and  Papinian,  the  minister  of  Severus,  who 
had  refused  to  write  a  public  defense  of  the  infamous  deed. 
Haunted  by  the  furies  of  an  evil  conscience,  this  rude,  illiterate,  and 
hideous  monster  soon  fled  from  Rome,  and  roamed  about  the  re- 
moter provinces  of  the  Empire,  not  pretending  to  take  command  of 
the  armies,  but  slaking  his  cruel  thirst  for  blood  wherever  the  fancy 
took  him.  At  Alexandria  he  revenged  himself  for  some  popular 
gibes  by  a  frightful  massacre.  His  miserable  life  was  protracted 
by  frequent  changes  of  residence  for  six  years.  He  was  killed  at 
last  on  the  borders  of  Syria  at  the  instigation  of  his  chief  minister 
Macrinus,  one  of  the  prefects  of  the  city,  who  found  that  his  own 
life  was  in  danger  from  the  tyrant  (217  a.  d.). 

Macrinus  easily  bribed  the  soldiers  on  the  frontier  to  proclaim 
him  emperor,  and,  in  spite  of  some  murmurs  at  the  elevation  of  an- 
other African  of  low  birth,  he  was  for  the  time  recognized  by  the 
Senate  and  the  people  of  Rome.  He  remained,  however,  in  the 
East,  and  set  himself  to  improve  the  discipline  of  the  legions,  and 
to  reduce  their  emoluments  within  more  reasonable  limits.  This 
effort,  though  much  needed,  and  prudently  exerted,  produced  dis- 
content among  the  soldiers,  and  led  to  the  speedy  downfall  of  the 
usurper. 

It  will  be  well  to  pause  at  this  point  and  take  a  general  view  of 
the  situation  of  the  Empire.  The  system  of  government  introduced 
by  Augustus  was  in  form  and  in  fact  a  compromise  or  balance  be- 
tween three  great  powers  in  the  state — the  Senate,  the  people,  and 
the  army.  The  emperor,  as  prince  of  the  Senate,  tribune  of  the 
people,  and  commander  of  the  army,  professed  to  derive  his  author- 
ity from  each  of  these  three  forces,  and  to  exercise  it  as  their  con- 
stitutional representative.     The  rule  of  Augustus    embodied    this 


THE     EMPEROR     MARCH'S     AURELIUS     AXTOX1XIS,     SIRXAMED     CARACALLA 

(  Horn    iSS    a.  n.      Died    217    A.  D.) 

Bust   in    the  X  alio  mil   Musi'iiin,   Xaplcs 


PERIOD     OF     DECLINE  103 

217 

idea  in  practice  with  marvelous  accuracy.  That  of  his  successors 
in  the  main  conformed  to  it  loyally,  in  spite  of  the  capricious  va- 
garies of  a  Caligula  or  a  Nero.  Under  the  Flavii,  the  Empire  rested 
somewhat  more  avowedly  upon  the  will  of  the  legions.  Under 
Nerva  and  his  successors,  the  influence  of  the  Senate  was  appar- 
ently increased,  and  served  to  mask  the  really  preponderant  power 
of  the  army.  Throughout  this  period  the  popular  element  in  the 
commonwealth,  the  Roman  mob,  fell  more  and  more  into  contempt. 
It  was  enough  to  feed  it  and  to  amuse  it.  Its  suffrages  could  al- 
ways be  purchased.  But  in  the  meantime  a  new  and  more  impor- 
tant Roman  people  was  growing  year  by  year  in  numbers  and  in 
influence.  The  liberal  policy  of  Julius  Csesar  toward  the  Gauls  and 
other  foreign  races  had  been  revived  by  Claudius,  and  from  his  time 
forward  large  numbers  of  provincials  were  from  time  to  time  ad- 
mitted as  citizens  of  Rome.  The  sums  paid  for  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  individuals  formed  an  important  source  of  revenue  to  the 
imperial  treasury.  These  new  citizens  cast  in  their  lot  with  the 
Roman  officials,  supported  them  in  their  despotic  government,  and 
helped  them  to  control  any  popular  movements  which  might  arise. 
Under  Hadrian  this  class  of  provincial  citizens  already  comprised 
nearly  the  whole  free  population.  Under  Caracalla,  by  the  advice 
of  the  wise  jurisconsults  whom  his  father  had  placed  around  him, 
the  edict  was  issued  by  which  the  citizenship  of  Rome  was  conferred 
upon  all  provincials. 

Side  by  side  with  this  great  social  revolution,  the  transforma- 
tion and  codification  of  the  law  had  been  advancing  with  rapid 
strides.  The  old  municipal  law  of  Rome  was  quite  inadequate  to 
the  needs  of  a  world-wide  empire ;  and  generations  of  lawyers  had 
been  working  under  imperial  supervision  to  incorporate  the  legal 
principles  and  usages  of  other  civilized  communities  into  that  log- 
ical and  harmonious  system  which  became  in  later  times  the  basis 
of  modern  European  law.  At  the  foundation  of  this  world-wide 
system  of  citizenship  and  law  lay  a  principle  utterly  repugnant  to 
old  Roman  ideas,  a  principle  which  owed  its  gradual  acceptance 
to  the  teaching  of  the  Stoic  philosophers — that  of  the  universal 
brotherhood  and  natural  equality  of  all  men.  The  Romans  learned 
it  from  the  Greeks.  It  was  earnestly  maintained  by  Cicero  and 
Seneca,  embodied  in  wise  laws  by  the  philosophic  jurists  of  the 
Empire,  and  authoritatively  enforced  by  Hadrian,  Antoninus,  and 
Aurelius. 


104  ITALY 

217-218 

The  current  of  religious  thought  flowed  in  like  manner  in  an 
ever-widening  channel.  The  gods  of  Greece  and  Egypt  were  ad- 
mitted side  by  side  with  those  of  Italy  into  the  Roman  Pantheon. 
The  Gaulish  deities  Taranis  and  Hesus  were  identified  with  Jupiter 
and  Mars,  and  the  Druidical  priesthood  was  replaced  by  a  hierarchy 
of  flamens  and  aruspices.  The  Jewish  religion  was  recognized,  and 
Christianity,  though  never  authorized  and  often  persecuted,  was 
generally  tolerated.  During  the  period  of  peace  and  prosperity 
which  followed  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  no  inquisition  was 
made  into  the  belief  of  the  Christians.  Their  manners  and  teaching 
began  to  exercise  a  wholesome  influence  upon  society;  the  num- 
ber of  converts  among  families  of  high  rank  increased;  and  the 
Christian  bishops,  especially  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  became  almost  a 
recognized  power  in  the  state. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Rome  was  not  unprepared  for  the 
strange  phenomenon  which  now  burst  upon  the  world.  The  children 
of  Mars  and  Ouirinus  were  required  to  accept  as  their  chief,  their 
prince,  and  their  supreme  pontiff,  a  stripling  from  Syria,  a  priest 
of  the  Sun,  clothed  in  the  Oriental  tiara  and  linen  stole,  and  in- 
vested by  the  devotees  of  his  cult  and  nation  with  a  peculiar  personal 
sanctity;  and  they  did  accept  him.  On  the  fall  of  Caracalla,  the 
empress-mother,  Julia  Domna,  put  an  end  to  her  life ;  but  her  sister, 
Julia  Msesa,  herself  a  widow,  retired  to  Antioch  with  her  two 
daughters,  Soemias  and  Mamaea,  who  were  also  widows.  Soemias 
the  elder  had  one  son,  Bassianus.  Mamaea  had  also  a  son  named 
Alexander.  The  young  Bassianus,  conspicuous  for  the  beauty  of 
his  face  and  figure,  became  priest  of  the  Sun  in  the  temple  at 
Emesa.  The  legions  stationed  there  chafed  at  the  hard  discipline 
of  Macrinus ;  they  fancied  they  could  detect  in  the  features  of 
Bassianus  some  resemblance  to  the  house  of  Severus;  they  pre- 
tended that  he  was  the  son  of  Caracalla,  and  by  a  sudden  movement 
proclaimed  him  emperor.  Macrinus  was  taken  by  surprise  and 
dismayed  by  the  popularity  of  his  rival ;  the  praetorian  troops  in  at- 
tendance upon  him  were  faithful,  and  almost  made  up  by  their  valor 
for  the  numbers  of  effeminate  Orientals  to  whom  they  were  op- 
posed ;  but  Macrinus  fled,  and,  with  his  son,  was  quickly  taken  and 
slain.  The  contending  armies  promptly  fraternized,  and  the  Senate 
acquiesced  in  an  appointment  which  bore  some  semblance  of  a 
return  to  the  principle  of  hereditary  descent  (218  a.  d.  ). 

The  deity  of  the  Sun  was  worshiped  at  Emesa  under  the  form 


PERIOD     OF     DECLINE  105 

218-233 

of  a  rude  black  stone,  and  under  the  name  of  Elagabalus.  His 
priest  was  designated  by  the  same  name,  and  is  known  among  the 
Roman  emperors  as  Elagabalus.  Ignorant  alike  of  Roman  history 
and  Roman  manners,  the  Oriental  youth  transferred  his  supersti- 
tious cult,  his  filthy  depravity,  and  his  effeminate  dress  unchanged 
to  the  city  of  Augustus  and  Antoninus.  The  period  of  his  rule, 
which  was  happily  not  prolonged,  marks  the  lowest  depth  of  in- 
famy and  degradation  to  which  imperial  Rome  ever  sunk.  His 
grandmother  Maesa  persuaded  him  to  make  his  cousin  Alexander,  a 
youth  of  better  promise,  his  colleague  in  the  Empire,  and  soon  after, 
in  222  a.  d.,  the  praetorians  mutinied,  and  put  an  end  to  his  miser- 
able life  and  reign. 

Alexander  was  readily  accepted  as  his  successor,  and  took  the 
additional  name  of  Severus.  Under  this  amiable  prince  the  Em- 
pire enjoyed  some  years  of  peace,  and  was  relieved  from  much 
of  the  taxation  imposed  by  the  necessities  of  warlike  or  profligate 
rulers.  His  minister,  Ulpian,  carried  forward  the  important  work 
of  codifying  the  law.  Raised  to  power  at  the  early  age  of  seven- 
teen, Alexander  was  too  much  under  the  influence  of  his  mother 
Mamaea,  who  seduced  him  into  some  acts  of  injustice  and  cruelty 
toward  his  wife  and  his  father-in-law.  The  praetorians,  when  they 
found  that  the  child  whom  they  had  placed  upon  the  throne  was 
resolved  to  keep  them  under  control,  broke  into  mutiny.  But  their 
anger  was  directed  more  against  the  minister  than  the  emperor. 
The  citizens  rose  in  arms  to  defend  Ulpian,  but  in  vain ;  he  was 
seized  and  massacred  within  the  palace.  Alexander  watched  his  op- 
portunity to  avenge  the  deed  upon  Epagathus,  the  praetorian  leader ; 
and  as  time  went  on  he  displayed  a  firmness  in  dealing  with  his 
mutinous  legions  which  enabled  him  to  acquire  the  mastery  over 
them. 

Without  being  a  profound  student  or  an  acute  philosopher, 
Alexander  was  fond  of  literature,  and  eager  to  make  himself  ac- 
quainted with  the  lives  and  teaching  of  the  best  and  wisest  of  man- 
kind. Among  the  images  set  up  in  his  chapel,  as  objects  of  devout 
contemplation,  are  said  to  have  been  those  of  Orpheus,  Abraham, 
and  Jesus  Christ.  Amid  the  cheerful  contentment  which  reigned 
around  him,  he  was  never  tempted  to  raise  a  persecuting  hand 
against  the  Christians. 

At  length  the  affairs  of  the  East,  where  the  Persian  monarchy 
had  risen  upon  the  ruins  of  the  Parthian,  compelled  him  to  take 


106  ITALY 

233-235 

the  field.  His  operations  were  conducted  on  a  grand  scale,  but  re- 
sulted in  no  substantial  success,  though  one  great  victory  is  as- 
cribed to  him.  From  Asia  he  returned  to  the  camps  of  the  Danube 
and  the  Rhine,  and  there  his  career  was  abruptly  cut  short  by  a 
mutiny,  which  raised  to  the  purple  an  obscure  Thracian  peasant 
named  Maximinus.  This  barbarian  emperor  was  conspicuous  for 
his  gigantic  stature  and  rude  prowess;  but  he  was  entirely  illiterate, 
and  ignorant  even  of  the  Greek  language  (235  a.  d.). 


Chapter  XVI 

ADVANCE   OF  THE   BARBARIANS.     235-284 

THE  usurper  Maximin  was  followed  by  a  succession  of  em- 
perors whose  brief  and  feverish  reigns,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  have  little  to  interest  us.  It  will  suffice  to 
record  their  names,  and  the  circumstances  of  their  elevation  to  the 
purple,  after  first  casting  a  general  glance  upon  the  relations  of 
Rome  to  the  communities  around  her.  The  rulers  of  the  state  will 
henceforth  be  stationed  on  the  frontiers ;  and  the  city  of  Rome  will 
fall  out  of  notice,  until  our  attention  is  recalled  to  it  by  the  triumph 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

The  increasing  force  and  activity  of  the  barbarians  form  the 
chief  political  features  of  the  period  before  us.  We  find  them  now 
associated  into  three  powerful  confederations,  each  of  which  in  turn 
proved  too  strong  for  the  imperial  forces.  About  the  time  at  which 
we  are  now  arrived,  the  tide  of  invasion  was  turned  on  the  Rhenish 
frontier,  and  the  German  tribes  began  to  force  their  way  into  the 
Roman  provinces.  The  Chauci,  the  Chatti,  and  the  Cherusci,  united 
under  the  common  designation  of  the  Franks,  at  length  overcame 
the  resistance  of  the  legions  on  the  Lower  Rhine,  and  carried  their 
devastations  through  the  whole  extent  of  Gaul.  Thence  they  passed 
into  Spain,  and,  seizing  the  ships  in  the  harbors,  traversed  the 
Mediterranean  to  its  most  distant  shores.  The  Frankish  conquests, 
however,  were  not  permanent,  and,  after  the  storm  was  passed,  the 
Roman  power  was  reestablished  within  its  ancient  limits. 

On  the  Upper  Rhine  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Danube,  in  the 
countries  now  known  as  Baden,  Bavaria,  and  Bohemia,  four  impor- 
tant tribes — the  Suevi,  the  Boii,  the  Marcomanni,  and  the  Quadi — 
were  banded  together  under  the  title  of  Allemanni.  After  a  pro- 
tracted struggle  with  the  garrisons  of  Rhsetia  and  Pannonia,  the 
Allemanni,  in  272  a.  d.,  burst  the  barrier  of  the  Alps,  and  spread 
desolation  over  northern  Italy  as  far  as  Ravenna.  The  invaders, 
it  is  true,  failed  to  acquire  any  firm  footing,  and  yielded  to  the 
enervating  effect  of  the  soft  Italian  climate;  but  the  Empire  was 

107 


108  ITALY 

235-238 

made  painfully  sensible  of  its  weakness,  and  even  Rome  itself  was 
seen  to  lie  almost  at  the  mercy  of  the  barbarians. 

The  Goths,  the  most  formidable  of  all  the  barbarians,  became 
known  to  the  Romans  at  this  period.  They  appeared  on  the  Lower 
Danube  with  their  kindred  Geta?,  and  that  river  proved  no  effective 
barrier  to  their  progress.  They  were  daring-  navigators,  who  did 
not  fear  to  traverse  the  broad  and  stormy  Euxine.  They  ravaged 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor;  they  sacked  the  rich  cities  of  Trapezus, 
Cyzicus,  and  Nicomedia ;  at  last  they  penetrated  the  Hellespont,  and 
carried  the  terror  of  their  name  through  Greece  and  the  islands  of 
the  7Eg?ean,  and  as  far  even  as  Calabria. 

In  the  Far  East  the  Empire  was  assailed  by  another  power. 
The  waning  monarchy  of  Parthia  had  expired,  and  in  its  place  a 
young  and  vigorous  Persian  dynasty  had  arisen.  Ardshir,  the  son, 
and  Sapor,  the  grandson,  of  Sassan  took  advantage  of  the  weakness 
of  the  Empire,  and  once  more  reduced  Armenia  to  dependence  upon 
them.  They  repelled  the  attack  of  Alexander  Severus,  recovered 
possession  of  the  recent  Roman  conquests,  and  in  their  turn 
ventured  to  invade  the  Roman  provinces  of  Asia  Minor.  Farther 
south  the  Saracens  began  to  come  into  notice,  harassing  the  borders 
of  civilization  in  Palestine  and  Egypt.  Throughout  the  Empire 
the  country  parts  were  infested  by  bands  of  brigands,  and  govern- 
ment scarcely  existed  outside  the  walls  of  the  cities.  Innumer- 
able finds  of  the  hoarded  coins  of  this  period  attest  the  prevalent 
sense  of  insecurity.  Of  the  emperors  whose  faces  appear  on  the 
coins  of  these  troubled  times,  two  things  are  worthy  of  note.  First, 
however  selfish  might  be  their  personal  ambition,  they  never  neg- 
lected the  paramount  duty  of  defending  the  Empire  against  all 
assailants ;  and,  second,  none  of  them  ever  dreamed  of  tearing  a 
limb  from  the  Empire  and  setting  himself  up  as  an  independent 
provincial  monarch.  They  all  looked  to  Rome  as  the  center 
of  authority,  and  assumed  the  titles  and  functions  of  Roman 
emperors. 

The  usurpation  of  Maximin  was  deeply  resented  by  the  sena- 
tors; and  the  two  Gordians,  father  and  son,  who  held  high  office  in 
Africa,  stood  forward  as  the  representatives  of  this  feeling  and  the 
opponents  of  the  Thracian  upstart.  Maximin  advanced  into  Italy, 
and  laid  siege  to  Aquileia;  and  being  delayed  there  by  the  gallant 
resistance  of  the  place,  his  soldiers  mutinied,  and  murdered  him.  A 
few  months  later  his  successors,  Maximus  and  Balbinus,  whom  the 


ADVANCE     OF     BARBARIANS  109 

270-282 

Senate  had  raised  to  the  purple,  fell  victims  to  their  soldiery,  and 
the  young  Gordian,  whom  the  people  had  associated  with  them, 
was  now  acknowledged  sole  emperor. 

For  five  years  the  government  was  ably  administered  by  his 
minister,  Misitheus.  Gordian  in  person  repelled  an  attack  of  the 
Persians  upon  Syria.  But  Misitheus  died,  and  his  successor  Philip- 
pus,  an  Arabian,  conspired  against  his  master.  Gordian  was  slain 
by  his  own  soldiers  on  the  Euphrates,  and  Philippus  reigned  in  his 
stead  in  244  a.  d.  But  his  own  troops  were  in  open  mutiny,  headed 
by  Marinus,  who  pretended  to  the  Empire.  Philip  dispatched 
Decius  against  him ;  but  Decius,  in  his  turn,  was  set  up  by  the  troops 
as  a  rival  claimant  to  the  throne.  The  issue  was  decided  between 
them  at  Verona,  in  a  battle  in  which  Philip  was  defeated  and  slain. 

Once  more  the  Romans  saw  at  their  head  an  emperor  of  the 
best  Roman  blood,  who  was  also  a  brave  soldier.  Decius  belonged 
to  the  old  plebeian  house  famous  in  history  for  its  patriotic  devotion. 
He  had  not  schemed  for  power,  but  it  had  been  thrust  upon  him. 
In  his  opinion  Rome  could  only  be  saved  by  a  victorious  army,  and 
the  discipline  of  that  army  could  only  be  maintained  by  a  return  to 
ancient  Roman  principles.  In  the  eyes  of  one  who  put  his  trust  in 
the  gods  of  Rome,  toleration  was  a  weak  mistake,  and  Decius  in- 
sisted that  the  Christians  should  conform  to  the  ancient  ordinances 
of  the  state.  The  Goths  were  threatening  invasion ;  and  as  in 
former  crises  of  a  similar  kind,  so  now,  but  with  unexampled 
severity,  persecution  fell  upon  the  believers.  Tried  by  the  test  of 
heathen  vows  and  sacrifices,  many  false  professors  doubtless  fell  into 
apostasy;  but  the  true  remnant  were  drawn  together  more  closely 
than  ever,  and  confirmed  each  other  in  the  faith  by  many  noble  ex- 
amples. The  storm  of  persecution,  though  sharp,  was  transient. 
Decius  hastened  to  the  scene  of  war  in  Msesia  to  prepare  his  legions 
for  the  coming  struggle,  leaving  Valerian  in  charge  of  the  city,  with 
the  office  and  title  of  censor.  In  three  campaigns  Decius  opposed 
a  manful  resistance  to  the  encroaching  foe,  and  at  length  gained 
the  distinction  of  falling,  first  of  all  the  Roman  emperors,  on  the 
field  of  battle.  A  gallant  son  perished  with  him ;  but  the  devotion 
of  these  latter  Decii  gained  no  triumph  for  Rome. 

The  Senate  nominated  for  his  successor  an  officer  named  Gallus, 
who  at  once  purchased  a  humiliating  peace ;  but  all  parties  were 
dissatisfied :  Gallus  was  murdered  by  the  soldiers,  and  an  officer  of 
the  Danubian  army,  /Emilianus,  took  his  place.    Against  this  new 


110  ITALY 

253-270 

pretender,  Valerian  now  advanced  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  the 
Rhine,  and  ^Emilianus,  in  his  turn,  was  assassinated  in  253  a.  d. 
Valerian,  with  his  son  Gallienus,  wore  the  purple  for  the  period, 
now  unusually  long-,  of  seven  years.  He  was  not  destitute  of  civic 
virtues,  and  bore  his  dignity  with  grace  and  moderation;  but  he 
proved  incapable  of  dealing  with  the  barbarians,  and  during  his 
reign  the  frontier  provinces  were  often  overrun  by  the  Franks  and 
the  Goths.  At  length  Valerian  girded  on  his  sword,  and  marched 
to  the  Euphrates  to  check  the  career  of  the  conquering  Sapor.  He 
was,  however,  defeated  and  captured  at  Odessa  in  260  a.  d.  ;  and 
after  suffering  unheard-of  indignities,  the  Persian  tyrant  mounting 
on  his  captive's  back  into  the  saddle,  he  died,  and  his  skin,  tanned 
and  painted  purple,  was  suspended  in  a  temple.  Sapor  advanced  into 
Asia  Minor ;  but  was  content  to  return  to  Persia,  carrying  with  him 
a  multitude  of  slaves.  The  indolent  Gallienus  made  no  attempt  to 
repair  the  honor  of  the  Empire,  which  was  better  sustained  by 
Odenathus,  a  Syrian  chieftain,  who  defended  Palmyra,  and  who 
assumed  the  title  of  emperor. 

While  Gallienus  lingered  in  vicious  ease  at  Rome,  a  host  of 
pretenders  sprung  up  in  every  quarter  of  the  Empire.  Roman 
writers  have  called  them  the  thirty  tyrants,  while  their  number  did 
not  fall  short  of  nineteen;  but,  one  after  another,  they  perished  by 
the  hands  of  their  own  troops  or  by  the  arms  of  the  emperor's  loyal 
lieutenants.  Odenathus  alone  was  accepted  as  a  colleague  by  Gal- 
lienus, and  honored  with  the  title  of  Augustus.  He  and  his  gallant 
queen  Zenobia  were  the  most  distinguished  persons  of  that  obscure 
but  turbulent  epoch. 

In  due  course  Gallienus  met  with  a  violent  end  in  a  tumult  in 
the  camp.  In  his  last  moments  he  nominated  for  his  successor 
Claudius,  a  man  of  courage  and  ability,  though  of  mean  birth  and 
foreign  extraction.  With  him  begins  a  brief  revival  of  military 
glory.  The  civil  contests  of  the  last  few  years  had  exercised  the 
legions,  and  elicited  such  military  ability  as  might  exist. 

Claudius  routed  the  Goths  in  the  great  battle  of  Naissus  in 
Maesia,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Gothicus.  He  then  prepared  to 
advance  against  the  Persians,  and  to  compel  the  submission  of 
Odenathus  and  Zenobia;  but  his  career  was  cut  short  by  a  natural 
death  at  Sirmium,  on  the  Danube,  and  he  nominated  the  gallant 
captain  Aurelian  for  his  successor  in  270  a.  d.  This  man,  the  son 
of  an  Illyrian  peasant,  proved  himself  one  of  the  ablest  chiefs  of  the 


ADVANCE     OF     BARBARIANS  111 

270-282 

Roman  legions  and  "  the  most  competent  emperor  since  Septimius 
Severus."  He  defeated  the  Goths  on  the  Danube,  but  prudently 
withdrew  the  outposts  of  the  Empire  from  the  northern  bank  of  that 
river.  With  his  legions  largely  reinforced  by  barbarian  cohorts, 
he  hastened  to  the  East,  and  encountered  no  unworthy  rival  in 
Zenobia,  Queen  of  Palmyra.  Zenobia,  who  was  guided  by  the 
counsels  of  the  philosopher  Longinus,  enjoyed  and  deserved  a  high 
reputation  for  political  capacity.  She  resisted  the  Roman  emperor 
in  the  field ;  but  was  overpowered  and  carried  captive  to  Rome,  to 
grace  her  conqueror's  triumph.  Aurelian,  however,  spared  her  life, 
and  she  long  lived  in  dignity  and  honor  at  Hadrian's  villa  near 
Tibur.  The  emperor,  who  was  a  stern  disciplinarian,  was  preparing 
to  carry  out  a  virulent  persecution  of  the  Christians  when  he  fell  by 
assassination  in  275  a.  d.  ;  and  such  was  the  respect  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  legions,  that  they  consented  to  wait  six  months  for  the 
nomination  of  his  successor  by  the  Senate.  One  substantial  monu- 
ment of  his  short  reign  remains  in  the  existing  walls  of  Rome,  which 
were  first  erected  in  his  time  as  a  defense  against  the  Allemanni,  who 
had  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Italy.  The  walls  of  Servius  had 
long  been  outgrown,  and  the  new  enclosure,  with  its  circuit  of 
twelve  or  thirteen  miles,  contained  within  it  all  the  suburbs,  and  com- 
prised an  area  three  or  four  times  that  of  the  Servian.  "  His  great 
achievement  was  the  restoration  of  the  empire  to  a  condition  which 
enabled  it  to  endure  through  successive  reigns,  till  Diocletian,  a  still 
abler  man." 

Aurelian's  successor,  Tacitus,  was  selected  by  the  Senate.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  birth  and  of  good  character ;  but  his  great  age 
rendered  him  incapable  of  enduring  the  fatigues  of  war,  and  he 
succumbed  after  a  campaign  of  a  few  months  against  the  Scythians. 

Again  the  army  undertook  to  create  an  emperor,  and  made  an 
excellent  choice  in  Aurelius  Probus,  a  tried  and  brilliant  general, 
and,  like  Aurelian,  a  native  of  Sirmium.  Probus  defeated  the  Ger- 
mans on  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube :  he  next  overthrew  the  Goths, 
and  then,  marching  to  the  extreme  east  of  the  Empire,  compelled 
the  Persians  to  agree  to  an  honorable  peace.  The  peace  of  the  Em- 
pire being  thus  secured,  Probus  employed  his  legions  in  draining 
marshes  and  planting  vineyards.  He  also  reestablished  the  culti- 
vation of  the  vine  in  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  and  the  Danubian 
provinces,  where  it  had  been  prohibited  since  Domitian's  time,  in 
the  interest  of  the  Italians.    But  these  peaceful  labors  were  distaste- 


112  ITALY 

282-284 

ful  to  the  legionaries,  and,  after  a  useful  reign  of  six  years,  Probus 
was  killed  in  a  mutiny.  Meanwhile  another  chief,  the  Dalmatian 
Diocles  or  Diocletianus,  was  on  the  watch  for  his  own  advancement. 
He  had  risen  from  the  lowest  ranks  by  sheer  force  of  talent,  and 
had  been  early  assured  by  a  prophetess  that  he  was  destined  for 
empire,  and  that  he  would  attain  it  by  the  slaughter  of  a  boar.  As- 
siduous hunting  in  the  forests  of  Gaul  and  Massia  had  won  for  him 
no  prize  of  power.  The  army  of  the  East  adhered  stanchly  to  him, 
and  the  man  who  best  understood  the  needs  of  the  Empire  and  of 
the  age  was  left  in  undisturbed  command  of  the  resources  of  the 
state  in  the  year  284  a.  d. 


Chapter    XVII 

THE    REFORMS    OF    DIOCLETIAN    AND    THE    RISE    OF 
CONSTANTINE.    284-323 

THE  accession  of  Diocletian  to  power  marks  a  new  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  284  a.  d.  The  old 
names  of  the  Republic,  the  consuls,  the  tribunes,  even  the 
Senate  itself,  have  by  this  time  lost  all  political  significance.  The 
Empire  of  Rome  is  henceforth  constituted  as  a  pure  Oriental  autoc- 
racy; and  the  very  name  of  citizen  falls  into  disuse.  If  the  provin- 
cial magistrates  and  assemblies  still  retain  some  of  their  ancient 
functions,  they  are  strictly  limited  in  their  action  to  matters  of  police 
and  finance.  Hitherto  the  Senate  had  been  popularly  regarded  as  the 
legitimate  center  of  administration  and  source  of  authority;  but  in 
practice  it  was  rarely  able,  and  then  only  on  sufferance,  to  assert  its 
right  to  select  the  chief  of  the  state.  The  result  of  this  weakness 
was  that  the  provinces  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  armies.  The  chief 
of  the  strongest  army  called  himself  emperor;  but,  in  the  absence 
of  a  central  controlling  power,  only  the  fortune  of  war  or  the 
chance  stroke  of  the  assassin's  dagger  could  decide  who  should  be 
emperor.  The  danger  of  disruption  was  becoming  yearly  more 
imminent,  when  Diocletian  arose  to  knit  the  Empire  once  more 
together  into  a  living  organization. 

Since  the  reign  of  Gallienus  the  senators  had  been  forbidden  to 
take  any  part  in  military  matters;  and  this  rule,  in  which  they  in- 
dolently acquiesced,  had  deprived  them  of  the  last  remnant  of  sub- 
stantial power.  Accordingly,  in  framing  his  new  imperial  consti- 
tution, Diocletian  took  no  account  of  the  Senate ;  but  such  was  the 
traditional  dignity  of  that  once  splendid  assembly  that  the  emperor 
preferred  to  remain  at  a  distance  from  the  city  where  it  still  held 
its  sittings.  In  order  to  put  an  effective  check  upon  the  ambition 
of  his  officers,  Diocletian  associated  with  himself  three  other  chiefs, 
each  of  whom  should  rule  over  a  separate  quarter  of  the  Empire, 
and  combine  in  maintaining  their  common  interest.  His  first  step 
was  to  choose  for  his  colleague  Maximianus,  an  Illyrian  peasant, 

113 


114 


ITALY 


286-292 

whom  he  invested  with  the  title  of  Augustus,  286  a.  d.  Maximia- 
nus  was  deputed  to  control  the  western  portion  of  the  Empire, 
while  Diocletian  took  command  in  the  East.  But,  finding  the  bur- 
den of  government  more  than  could  be  borne  by  two  rulers,  in 
the  year  292  a.  d.  he  created  two  Caesars — the  one,  Galerius,  to  share 
with  him  the  Empire  of  the  East ;  the  other,  Constantius  Chlorus,  to 
divide  the  West  with  Maximian.  The  Caesars  were  bound  more 
closely  to  the  Augusti  by  receiving  their  daughters  in  marriage. 
Each  of  these  four  princes  reigned  as  a  king  in  his  own  territory, 
having  his  own  court  and  capital  as  well  as  his  own  army  and 


THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 

IN  THE  TIME  OF 
DIOCLETIAN 


camp,  though  the  supremacy  of  Diocletian  was  fully  recognized.  It 
was  not  a  division  of  the  Empire,  however,  in  any  sense,  for  the 
possibility  of  division  was  not  contemplated;  it  was  merely  a  di- 
vision of  the  administration  of  the  one  and  indivisible  Empire  in 
order  better  to  secure  its  unity.  Diocletian  reigned  at  Nicomedia 
over  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt ;  his  Csesar,  Galerius,  resided  at 
Sirmium,  and  governed  the  Danubian  and  Macedonian  provinces. 
Maximian  occupied  Italy,  Africa,  and  the  adjacent  islands,  with  his 
headquarters  at  Milan;  while  Constantius,  established  at  Treves, 
undertook  the  defense  of  the  Rhenish  frontier,  and  drew  the  forces 


REFORMS     OF     DIOCLETIAN  115 

292-305 

needed  for  the  task  from  the  martial  provinces  of  Spain,  Gaul,  and 
Britain. 

All  the  four  emperors  found  serious  work  to  do  in  quieting  re- 
bellious subjects,  overthrowing  pretenders  to  sovereignty,  or  re- 
pelling foreign  foes;  but  they  all  acted  with  energy  and  success. 
Egypt  was  pacified,  Mauretania  humbled;  Galerius  reduced  the 
Persians  to  submission ;  Constantius  discomfited  the  Allemanni  who 
had  invaded  Gaul,  and  put  down  the  pretenders  Carausius  and 
Allectus  in  Britain.  Thus  victorious  in  every  quarter,  Diocletian 
celebrated  his  twentieth  year  of  power  by  a  triumph  at  the  ancient 
capital,  and  then  returned  to  Nicomedia.  He  soon  afterward 
formed  the  resolution  to  relieve  himself  of  the  cares  of  government, 
and  called  upon  Maximian  to  do  the  same.  On  May  i,  305  a.  d.. 
being  then  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  Diocletian  performed  the  act  of 
abdication  at  Morgus,  in  Msesia,  where  he  had  first  assumed  the 
purple  at  the  bidding  of  the  soldiers.  On  the  same  day  a  similar 
scene  was  enacted  by  his  colleague  Maximian  at  Milan.  Diocletian, 
completely  successful  in  all  his  plans,  crowned  his  career  of  modera- 
tion and  self-restraint  by  confining  himself  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life  to  the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  a  private  station.  He  retired 
to  his  residence  near  Salona,  in  his  native  province,  Dalmatia,  and 
amused  himself  during  his  declining  years  with  the  cultivation  of 
his  garden. 

During  the  reign  of  Diocletian  a  serious  outbreak  of  the  labor- 
ing population  occurred  in  Gaul.  The  system  of  imperial  taxation 
was  intensely  oppressive.  The  peasants,  though  legally  free,  were 
in  fact  registered  and  bound  to  the  soil,  in  order  to  guard  against 
any  of  them  evading  his  share  of  the  taxes.  The  restriction  thus 
placed  upon  the  natural  movements  of  population  produced,  in  years 
of  famine,  pestilence,  or  war,  the  direst  distress.  At  the  best  of 
times  the  local  officials  could  only  escape  ruin  for  themselves  by 
grinding  to  the  utmost  the  classes  below  them.  Under  this  evil 
system,  the  wealth  and  population  of  the  Empire  were  fast  sinking, 
while  the  luxury  of  the  magnates  and  the  necessities  of  the  gov- 
ernment increased.  Gaul  had  suffered  much  from  the  incursions  of 
the  barbarians  and  from  civil  wars  during  the  last  half-century,  and 
the  distress  thus  caused  led  to  the  insurrection  of  the  Bagandae,  or 
rustic  banditti.  For  several  years  the  country  was  overrun  with 
troops  of  famished  and  furious  marauders,  who  attacked  all  prop- 
erty, and,  in  the  case  of  Autun,  sacked  and  destroyed  one   of  the 


116  ITALY 

292-305 

chief  centers  of  Gaulish  civilization.  The  insurrection  at  length 
died  out ;  but  the  imperial  government  failed  to  learn  from  it  the 
urgent  necessity  of  devising  some  less  exhausting  system  of  taxa- 
tion. It  was  at  this  time  that  the  most  general  and  violent  effort 
was  made  to  stamp  out  the  new  faith  altogether.  Diocletian  was 
opposed  to  such  a  course ;  but  both  Maximian  and  Galerius  urged  it 
upon  him,  and  at  length  prevailed.  The  persecution  which  followed 
was  systematic  and  relentless.  Constantius,  however,  refused  to 
take  part  in  it,  and  the  Christians  in  Gaul,  the  country  of  the 
Bagandae,  were  unmolested.  Though  Diocletian  allowed  himself  to 
be  persuaded  against  his  better  judgment  to  become  a  persecutor,  we 
need  not  suppose  that  his  cruelties  were  prompted  by  any  supersti- 
tious fear  of  the  offended  pagan  deities  such  as  had  dictated  the 
earlier  persecutions.  Neither  is  it  probable  that  he  had  any  fanati- 
cal desire  to  prop  the  tottering  edifice  of  pagan  philosophy  and 
superstition  against  the  assaults  of  the  new  faith.  The  aim  of 
Diocletian's  life  had  been  to  reestablish  a  powerful  central  govern- 
ment, which  might  command  absolute  obedience  throughout  every 
corner  of  the  Empire.  In  this  he  had  succeeded ;  but  meanwhile  the 
growing  power  and  organization  of  the  Christian  Church  had  be- 
come a  state  within  a  state.  Courts  and  prefects  did  not  like  to 
see  their  authority  rivaled  by  that  of  metropolitans  and  bishops. 
Diocletian  would  not  brook  the  existence  of  a  power  independent  of 
his  own  sovereign  will ;  and  it  was  in  order  to  extirpate  such  a  power 
that  he  declared  internecine  war  against  the  church.  He  had  under- 
taken a  task  which  was  beyond  his  or  any  man's  strength,  and  which 
was  doomed  to  failure.  He  had  underrated  the  moral  force,  the  un- 
quenchable vitality  of  a  society  which  could  not  only  survive,  but 
multiply,  in  defiance  of  his  ruthless  edicts.  He  lived  to  see  the 
persecution  come  to  an  end,  and  perhaps  even  to  hear,  in  his  retire- 
ment, of  the  edict  of  Milan,  which  guaranteed  to  the  Christians, 
once  for  all,  an  established  position  in  the  commonwealth. 

Notwithstanding  the  ability  which  Diocletian  had  displayed  in 
the  government  of  his  realm,  the  distribution  of  power  he  affected 
to  make  on  his  abdication  seems  to  indicate  caprice  or  weakness.  In- 
stead of  inviting  the  two  Caesars  to  step  into  the  superior  position 
of  Augusti,  and  associate  each  with  himself  a  Caesar  of  his  own 
choice,  he  allowed  Galerius  to  nominate  both  the  new  princes ;  and 
Constantius  was  required  to  accept  for  his  Caesar  one  Flavius 
Severus,  to  the  injury  of  his  own  son  Constantine's  claims.     Con- 


REFORMS     OF     DIOCLETIAN  117 

305-306 

stantius  was  at  the  time  lying  sick  in  the  north  of  Britain.  Galerius 
was  watching  for  his  death,  and  hoping  to  secure  for  himself  su- 
preme authority  over  the  whole  Empire.  But  Constantius  was  be- 
loved by  his  subjects,  and  especially  by  the  many  Christians  who 
had  taken  refuge  under  his  sway,  for  his  moderation.  He  was  also 
admired  by  the  soldiers  for  his  victories  over  the  Allemanni  and  the 
Caledonians.  At  the  moment  of  his  death  in  306  a.  d.  they  proclaimed 
his  son  Constantine  emperor  in  their  camp  at  York,  and  this  nomi- 
nation was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  all  classes  throughout  the 
West.  Galerius  did  not  venture  to  oppose  it ;  but  insisted  that  Con- 
stantine should  be  content  with  the  fourth  place  among  the  asso- 
ciated princes  with  the  subordinate  title  of  Caesar.  Constantine 
affected  to  be  satisfied,  and  devoted  himself  during  six  years  to  the 
administration  of  the  northern  provinces.  He  thoroughly  quelled 
the  barbarians  in  Britain,  and  put  the  Roman  province  in  a  complete 
state  of  defense.  He  reestablished  the  provincial  government  which 
had  been  overthrown  by  Carausius.  Thence  he  hastened  to  the 
Rhine,  where  the  Germans  were  making  fresh  incursions,  and  com- 
pleted his  victory  at  Noviomagus  by  a  terrible  massacre  of  his  cap- 
tives. To  his  own  subjects  he  was  merciful  and  kind,  protecting 
the  Christians,  and  easing  the  burden  of  taxation  which  had  pressed 
so  hard  upon  the  people  of  Gaul.  Though  personally  indifferent  to 
every  form  of  religion,  he  perceived  that  Christianity  was  a  rising 
power.  His  imagination  was  fascinated  by  it ;  and  his  vigorous  un- 
derstanding recognized  the  fact  that  the  Christians  were  the  best 
husbands  and  fathers,  the  most  honest  dealers,  perhaps  the  bravest 
of  soldiers,  certainly  the  most  loyal  subjects.  However  small 
their  numbers  compared  to  those  of  the  pagans,  their  effective  force 
was  indefinitely  multiplied  by  their  zeal  and  earnestness,  and  by  the 
admiration  their  long  sufferings  had  extorted.  While  watching  his 
opportunity  for  raising  himself  to  the  highest  place  in  the  Empire, 
Constantine  was  perhaps  already  meditating  an  alliance  with  the 
greatest  moral  power  of  the  period. 

Meanwhile  the  Senate  at  Rome  awoke  for  a  moment  from  its 
torpor,  and,  resenting  the  interferences  of  Galerius  with  Italy,  de- 
creed the  title  of  Augustus  to  Maxentius,  the  son  of  their  late  ruler 
Maximian.  Maximian  himself  issued  from  his  retirement  on  the 
plea  of  aiding  the  cause  of  his  son,  and  sought  to  secure  the  support 
of  Constantine  by  giving  him  his  daughter  Fausta  in  marriage. 
Maxentius  soon  drove  his  father  out  of  Italy,  and  the  old  man 


118  ITALY 

306-319 

found  a  refuge  with  his  son-in-law  in  Gaul.  Here  his  restless  spirit 
drove  him  to  make  repeated  efforts  to  recover  the  imperial  power 
which  he  had  resigned.  His  schemes  were  more  than  once  frus- 
trated, and  he  himself  pardoned  by  Constantine,  whose  soldiers  were 
ardently  devoted  to  their  emperor.  At  length  Maximian  contrived 
a  plot  to  take  the  life  of  his  generous  benefactor.  He  was  foiled, 
and  peremptorily  required  to  put  an  end  to  his  own  existence.  In 
the  following  year  occurred  the  death  of  Galerius,  whose  cruelties 
have  rendered  his  name  a  byword,  and  whose  death  from  a  loath- 
some disease  was  regarded  by  the  Christians  as  a  divine  retribution. 
Severus  was  already  dead ;  and  Licinius,  by  birth  a  Dacian  peasant, 
had  been  promoted  in  his  place.  Maximin,  the  nephew  of  Galerius, 
had  been  for  some  years  the  Caesar  of  the  East.  On  the  death  of 
Galerius,  Licinius  took  possession  of  the  Empire  of  the  East,  and  he, 
with  Maximin,  Maxentius,  and  Constantine,  divided  the  Roman 
world  between  them,  all  four  claiming  the  superior  title  of  Au- 
gustus. Licinius  and  Constantine  were  both  able  and  ambitious ;  the 
two  other  princes  were  weak  and  indolent.  Scarcely  had  Galerius 
expired  when  Constantine  crossed  the  Alps  to  attack  Maxentius. 
He  gained  three  brilliant  victories — at  Turin,  at  Verona,  and  lastly 
at  the  Milvian  Bridge,  two  miles  from  Rome,  where  Maxentius, 
after  his  defeat,  was  drowned  in  the  Tiber  (312  a.  d.).  Constantine 
was  received  with  acclamations  in  Rome,  and  speedily  acknowledged 
Emperor  of  the  West  throughout  Italy  and  Africa.  In  the  year 
313  he  issued,  at  Milan,  the  famous  edict  which  assured  the 
Christians  of  his  protection.  He  afterward  affirmed  with  a  solemn 
oath  that,  while  on  his  march  from  Gaul,  he  had  beheld  the  vision 
of  a  brilliant  cross  in  the  heavens  inscribed  with  the  legend,  "  By 
this  conquer !  " 

Constantine,  who  now  saw  Rome  for  the  first  time,  affected  to 
treat  the  Senate  with  respect;  but  he  took  care  to  prevent  the  city 
from  ever  again  giving  laws  to  the  Empire  by  disbanding  the  prae- 
torian guards  and  destroying  their  camp.  He  veiled  his  own  per- 
sonal faith  in  studied  ambiguity,  assuming  the  office  of  Chief  Pon- 
tiff of  the  old  national  religion,  and  erecting  statues  of  some  of  the 
gods  of  Olympus  on  his  arch  of  triumph.  Constantine  had  accepted 
the  proffered  alliance  of  Licinius,  had  given  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage,  and  had  engaged  him  to  set  his  seal  to  the  edict  of  Milan. 
Bearing  it  back  with  him  to  the  East,  and  placarding  it  on  the  walls 
of  Nicomedia,  Licinius  evoked  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Christians, 


REFORMS     OF     DIOCLETIAN  119 

319-323 

and  had  little  difficulty  in  crushing  his  rival  Maximin,  who,  after 
suffering  three  defeats,  poisoned  himself  at  Tarsus.  But  Con- 
stantine  was  jealous  of  the  success  of  Licinius,  and,  pretending  to 
have  discovered  an  intrigue  against  himself,  advanced  with  a  small 
force  to  take  him  by  surprise.  A  drawn  battle  on  the  plain  of 
Mardia,  in  Thrace,  led  to  an  agreement  by  which  Illyricum,  Mace- 
donia, Greece,  and  part  of  Msesia  were  ceded  to  Constantine  and 
incorporated  with  the  Western  Empire.  During  the  nine  years  that 
this  compact  remained  in  force,  Constantine  was  actively  engaged 
in  reorganizing  his  army  and  consolidating  his  vast  dominions.  He 
reduced  the  strength  of  the  legions  to  1500  men,  and  multiplied 
the  number  of  them.  He  admitted  slaves  to  the  ranks,  and  generally 
selected  barbarian  captains  for  command.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
busily  employed  in  revising  the  laws,  hoping  to  bring  Christians  and 
pagans  to  live  harmoniously  together  under  equal  laws ;  but  he  soon 
found  that  it  was  impossible  to  bring  the  Christians  themselves  into 
agreement.  The  bishops  invoked  his  authority,  and  besought  his 
interference  to  reconcile  the  differences  between  the  sects.  He  held 
councils  at  Rome  and  at  Aries,  where  the  question  in  debate  turned 
upon  the  treatment  of  the  weak  brethren  who  had  lapsed  from  the 
faith  in  the  time  of  persecution.  Yet  while  the  principles  of  the 
Christians  were  respected,  their  churches  protected,  and  their  en- 
dowments secured  to  them,  Constantine  did  not  break  with  pa- 
ganism. He  was  still  Chief  Pontiff  of  Jupiter,  "  best  and  greatest." 
Vows  and  prayers  might  still  be  addressed  to  the  pagan  deities,  and 
even  to  the  genius  of  the  emperor.  He  even  looked  forward  to 
being  himself  enrolled,  after  death,  among  the  objects  of  national 
worship. 

All  this  time  Licinius  was  growing  more  and  more  jealous  of 
the  Western  emperor,  and  of  the  favor  with  which  the  Christians 
regarded  him.  He  foresaw  that  a  struggle  between  them  was  in- 
evitable, and  he  foolishly  weakened  his  own  cause  by  withdrawing 
his  protection  from  the  Christians.  When  at  last  the  two  emperors 
took  the  field  against  each  other,  Licinius  openly  avowed  himself  the 
champion  of  the  pagan  gods,  and  the  contest  became  that  of  the  new 
faith  against  the  old.  Constantine  assembled  his  forces  in  Greece  to 
the  number  of  130,000  men,  with  the  labarum  or  monogram  of 
Christ  displayed  upon  his  standard.  Licinius  encountered  him  at 
the  head  of  165,000  men,  and  with  a  host  of  aruspices  and  diviners 
in  his  train.    The  armies  met  at  Adrianople,  Constantine  giving  for 


120  ITALY 

323 

his  watchword  "  God  our  Saviour."  The  Western  army,  in  spite  of 
its  inferior  numbers,  carried  all  before  it,  and  Licinius  was  driven 
for  refuge  into  the  fortress  of  Byzantium  in  323  a.  d.  Thence  he 
was  dislodged  by  Crispus,  the  son  of  Constantine,  at  the  head  of  the 
fleet;  and  after  some  further  efforts  at  resistance  he  retired  to  Nico- 
media,  and  made  a  full  submission  to  the  victor.  He  was  promised 
his  life,  but  the  promise  was  not  long  observed.  On  the  death  of 
Licinius,  Constantine  saw  himself  at  length  sole  and  undisputed 
sovereign  of  the  whole  Roman  world. 


Chapter    XVIII 

CONSTANTINE    THE    GREAT    AND    THE    SUPREMACY 
OF   CONSTANTINOPLE.     324-361 

CONSTANTINE  well  deserved  the  title  of  "  Great "  which 
has  been  affixed  to  his  name  in  common  with  those  of  only- 
two  other  conspicuous  heroes  of  ancient  history.  The 
changes  effected  under  his  auspices  were  of  more  value  and  im- 
portance to  the  world  than  any  achievements  of  Alexander  or  of 
Pompey.  The  establishment  of  Christianity,  by  itself,  and  regarded 
only  as  a  politic  measure,  entitles  its  author  to  the  highest  honor. 
"  That  Christianity  should  become  the  religion  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire is  the  miracle  of  history,  but  that  it  did  so  become  is  the  leading 
fact  of  all  history  from  that  day  onward.  Explain  the  fact  as  we 
will,  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  it  is 
hardly  more.  It  has  been  accepted  by  every  land  which  either  be- 
came part  of  the  Empire  or  came  under  its  influence ;  that  is,  it  has 
become  the  creed  of  Europe  and  European  colonies.  Beyond  these 
limits  it  has  made  conquests,  but  they  have  seldom  been  abiding."  l 
The  victories  of  Constantine  in  the  field,  the  extent  of  his  dominion, 
and  the  firm  grasp  with  which  he  held  it,  were  all  unsurpassed  by 
any  ancient  sovereignty. 

From  the  time  of  his  elevation  to  sole  power  he  became  more 
than  ever  the  protector  of  the  Christians,  and  no  flattery  was  too 
strong  to  express  their  gratitude  toward  him.  In  the  year  325  the 
strange  sight  was  witnessed  of  a  Roman  emperor,  Chief  Pontiff  of 
the  pagan  religion,  surrounded  by  guards  and  officers  of  state,  pre- 
siding over  the  deliberations  of  an  assembly  of  Christian  bishops. 
This  occurred  at  the  famous  Council  of  Nicsea,  where,  after  the 
testimony  of  the  bishops  as  to  the  tradition  of  their  several  dioceses 
had  been  received,  the  final  judgment  on  the  most  abstruse  dogmas 
of  the  faith  was  pronounced  by  Constantine.  For  many  hundreds 
of  years  Roman  statesmen  had  looked  eastward;  the  chief  wealth 

1  E.  A.  Freeman,  "  Chief  Periods  of  European  History,"  p.  67. 

121 


V22  ITALY 

325-330 

and  intelligence  and  population  of  the  Empire  were  to  be  found  in 
the  Eastern  provinces.  Sulla  and  Pompey  had  returned  to  Rome 
dazzled  and  debauched  by  the  splendor  and  the  pomp  they  had  en- 
joyed in  Asia.  Antonius  and  Ca?sar  had  been  suspected  of  a  design 
to  make  themselves  Oriental  despots.  Augustus  had  entertained  the 
idea  of  rebuilding  Ilium.  Diocletian  had  actually  for  a  time  trans- 
ferred the  chief  seat  of  empire  to  Nicomedia.  Constantine  went 
beyond  all  his  predecessors.  He  had  marked  the  advantageous 
position  of  Byzantium  when  he  pursued  Licinius  within  its  walls. 
He  now  determined  to  build  a  new  Rome  upon  the  site,  and  make 
it  the  administrative  center  of  the  Empire,  for  old  Rome,  despite 
good  roads,  was  a  most  inconvenient  center  for  the  Empire.  With 
prescient  ambition,  he  marked  out  its  walls  in  person,  embracing 
an  area  as  large  as  that  of  Rome.  Here  he  required  his  nobles  to 
settle  and  build  palaces  for  their  families.  Leaving  the  city  and 
Senate  of  Rome  undisturbed,  he  quietly  created  a  new  Senate  and 
a  new  hierarchy  of  officers,  and  gave  them  a  dignity  equal  to  that 
of  the  ancient  capital.  The  new  metropolis  basked  in  the  sunshine 
of  the  imperial  presence,  and  Rome  soon  sank  into  the  position  of 
a  mere  provincial  capital  such  as  Alexandria,  Antioch,  or  Treves. 
Constantinople  became  the  mistress  of  the  world,  and  succeeded 
to  Rome's  proudest  title,  "  The  City." 

This  transfer  of  the  seat  of  empire  to  the  East  was  due  to 
something  more  than  the  caprice  of  the  emperor.  The  position 
of  Rome  as  the  center  of  imperial  power  had  been  due  solely  to 
her  military  supremacy.  Throughout  the  long  period  of  the  growth 
of  the  Republic  and  of  the  Empire,  Greece  and  the  East,  rather  than 
Rome,  had  been  the  source  whence  the  intellectual  movement  of  the 
world  had  sprung.  The  laws,  the  literature,  the  philosophy,  and 
now  at  length  the  religion,  of  the  Empire  derived  their  origin  from 
the  lands  which  lay  to  the  east  of  Italy.  In  wealth,  in  population, 
in  culture,  in  intelligence,  the  Greeks  and  Orientals  surpassed  the 
people  of  Rome  and  Italy ;  and  now  that  the  conquerors  of  the  world 
had  lost  their  once  preeminent  qualities  of  martial  hardihood  and 
practical  statesmanship,  it  was  but  natural  that  power  should  drop 
from  their  hands.  Another  reason  for  the  change  may  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  most  dangerous  external  foes  of  the  Empire  were 
now  to  be  found  in  the  East.  The  renewed  vitality  of  the  Persian 
monarchy,  and  the  pressure  of  the  Gothic  hordes  upon  the  line  of 
the  Lower  Danube,  required  the  constant  presence  and  vigilant  at- 


CONSTANTIXE     THE     GREAT  124 

330-340 

tention  of  the  ruler  in  that  quarter  of  the  Empire.  A  better  center 
of  operations  against  these  enemies  than  the  new  capital  could  not 
have  been  found.  Constantinople,  in  fact,  never  succumbed  to  the 
power  of  the  Goths.  It  proved  a  bulwark  to  the  eastern  half  of 
the  Empire  against  their  attacks,  and  by  diverting  their  advance 
into  a  more  westerly  line  of  march,  it  exposed  Italy  and  Rome  to 
the  full  force  of  their  onset. 

Here,  in  330  a.  d.,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  western  shore  of 
the  Bosphorus,  at  the  point  of  junction  of  two  continents,  Constan- 
tine  reared  his  imperial  city,  where  for  another  thousand  years  the 
traditions  of  Roman  dominion  were  maintained.  Here  he  passed 
the  last  six  years  of  his  successful  life. 

Here  he  celebrated,  in  336,  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  his 
elevation  to  the  purple.  In  the  following  year,  while  leading  his 
army  against  the  Persian  Sapor,  he  died  at  Nicomedia,  receiving  at 
last,  on  his  deathbed,  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  which  he  had  so 
long  delayed,  and  which  he  probably  regarded  as  a  passport  to 
heaven ;  and  thus  the  Empire  became  officially  Christian.  Freeman 
is  not  exaggerating  when  he  says :  "  The  miracle  of  miracles ; 
greater  than  dried-up  seas  and  cloven  rocks,  greater  than  the  dead 
rising  again  to  life,  was  when  the  Augustus  on  his  throne,  pontiff 
of  the  gods  of  Rome,  himself  a  god  to  the  subjects  of  Rome,  bent 
himself  to  become  the  worshiper  of  a  crucified  provincial  of  his 
Empire."  2 

According  to  his  directions,  the  Empire  was  divided  between 
his  three  sons.  Constantine,  the  eldest,  ruled  over  the  Western 
provinces,  probably  at  Treves.  Constans,  the  youngest,  occupied 
Italy,  Illyricum,  and  Africa,  but  held  his  court,  not  at  Rome,  nor 
even  in  Italy,  but  at  one  of  the  Pannonian  fortresses.  Constantius 
succeeded  to  the  government  of  the  East,  making  Constantinople 
his  capital,  and  maintaining,  during  his  long  reign  of  forty  years, 
the  struggle  begun  by  his  father  against  the  Persian  monarchy. 
It  was  not  long  before  Constantine  and  Constans  quarreled  and 
fought.  Their  forces  met  at  Aquileia,  and  the  death  of  Constan- 
tine, which  ensued,  left  Constans  master  of  the  entire  West  in  340 
a.  d.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  Gaul,  and  led  a  life  of  indolent  dis- 
sipation, till  he  was  surprised  by  a  mutiny  of  his  soldiers  and  dis- 
patched by  their  leader,  Magnentius.  The  murderer  assumed  the 
purple,  and  was  acknowledged  emperor  of  the  Western  provinces; 
2  Freeman,   "  Chief    Periods   of   European   History,"   p.   67. 


124  ITALY 

340-353 

but  the  Illyrian  legions  refused  to  recognize  him,  and  set  up  an  officer 
of  their  own,  Vetranio,  as  his  rival.  Constantine  heard  at  Edessa  of 
this  double  revolt  against  the  authority  of  the  house  of  Constan- 
tine. He  quickly  retreated  from  the  Persian  frontier,  and  marching 
across  Asia  Minor,  and  through  his  capital,  he  never  halted  till  he 
confronted  Vetranio  near  Sirmium.  A  conference  was  arranged; 
the  aged  Vetranio,  touched  by  a  feeling  of  loyalty,  admitted  the 
superior  claims  of  his  great  master's  son,  descended  from  his 
throne,  did  obeisance,  and  was  forgiven.  This  reconciliation  was 
followed  by  a  decisive  battle  with  Magnentius  at  Mursa,  in  Pan- 
nonia.  After  a  bloody  encounter,  the  usurper  was  routed.  He 
fled  first  to  Aquileia,  thence  to  Rome,  and  finally  to  Gaul,  but  was 
at  last  taken  and  killed.  Constantius  became  the  undisputed  ruler 
of  the  united  Empire  in  353  a.  d.  At  the  time  of  Constantine's 
death  the  soldiers  had  murdered  all  the  scions  of  the  house  of 
Chlorus  except  the  emperor's  three  sons  and  two  of  their  cousins, 
Gallus  and  Julianus.  Constantius  now  found  it  necessary  to  his 
security  to  execute  his  cousin  Gallus,  leaving  but  one  collateral 
branch  of  his  house,  Julianus. 

It  was  now  thirty  years  since  Constantine  had  left  Rome.  A 
generation  of  Romans  had  arisen  who  had  never  seen  an  emperor 
nor  witnessed  a  great  military  pageant.  The  Senate  still  sat;  the 
consuls  still  gave  their  names  to  the  successive  years ;  but  no  affairs 
of  state  were  discussed,  no  provincial  government  was  directed  from 
the  whilom  mistress  of  the  world.  Here,  amid  the  treasures  of  art 
collected  during  centuries  of  supremacy,  amid  the  cultivated  society 
which  had  long  gravitated  to  the  center  of  empire,  the  wealthiest 
and  idlest  of  the  old  aristocracy  still  loved  to  congregate.  Since  the 
edict  of  toleration  all  tongues  had  been  loosened;  Christians  and 
pagans  proclaimed  their  opinions  in  hot  and  sometimes  angry 
debate.  But  the  peace  was  not  broken.  Substantial  harmony  pre- 
vailed among  all  parties.  For  fifty  years  Rome  had  enjoyed  a 
period  of  tranquil  prosperity,  such  as  might,  perhaps,  be  compared 
advantageously  even  with  the  favored  era  of  the  Antonines. 

Although  the  scepter  had  in  reality  departed  from  Rome,  the 
citizens  were  far  indeed  from  recognizing  the  fact.  They  did  not 
abate  one  jot  of  their  ancient  pride  in  themselves  and  their  city, 
however  little  ground  there  might  be  for  such  self-satisfaction.  The 
success  of  Rome  had  always  been  attributed  to  the  reverence  of 
her  people  for  the  national  gods ;  and  despite  the  progress  of  Chris- 


CONSTANTINE     THE     GREAT  125 

353-359 

tianity,  this  feeling  was  by  no  means  extinguished.  The  belief  in 
such  deities  as  Jupiter,  Venus,  or  Apollo,  had,  it  is  true,  almost  died 
out;  but  in  their  place  the  divinity  of  Rome  itself,  the  genius  of 
the  Empire  and  of  the  city,  had  taken  a  firm  hold  on  the  affections 
and  the  devotion  of  the  people.  The  goddess  Roma  had  her  temple, 
the  most  magnificent  of  all ;  she  was  doubtless  there  represented  by 
an  image  of  bronze  or  marble ;  but  the  most  perfect  embodiment  of 
this  ideal  divinity  was  the  person  of  the  reigning  emperor.  It  had 
now  for  centuries  been  the  custom  to  accord  divine  honors  to  the 
emperors  after  death ;  and  even  during  life  a  kind  of  divine  sanctity 
had  long  been  attached  to  their  persons.  The  Orientals  worshiped 
the  emperor  as  a  god  without  hesitation,  and  even  in  the  West  vows 
were  made  and  sacrifices  were  offered  in  his  name.  Christian  though 
he  might  profess  to  be,  the  emperor  did  not  disclaim  these  honors 
nor  refuse  to  accept  such  worship.  Surrounded  by  this  halo  of 
superhuman  power  and  dignity,  Constantius  made  his  public  entry 
into  the  imperial  city,  which  he  now  saw  for  the  first  time. 

Constantius  had  now  to  learn  with  surprise  how  great  were 
the  position  and  power  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome;  and  how  that  the 
faith  of  the  Christians  was  a  force  capable  of  resisting  even  his 
imperious  will.  Already  during  his  father's  lifetime  the  doctrines 
of  the  presbyter  Arius  had  been  widely  accepted  in  the  East.  His 
heresy,  which  placed  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity  in  a  lower 
scale  of  divinity  than  the  first,  was  embraced  by  many  as  a  compro- 
mise with  polytheism.  The  Council  of  Nicaea  condemned  the  heresy, 
and  the  heretic  was  banished;  but  before  his  death  Constantine 
restored  Arius  to  favor,  and  Constantius  accepted  his  teaching,  and 
proscribed  the  orthodox  believers.  He  went  so  far  even  as  to  depose 
Athanasius  from  his  see ;  and  when  the  latter  took  refuge  at  Rome, 
and  was  welcomed  by  Pope  Liberius,  Constantius  had  called  upon 
the  Pope  to  condemn  and  excommunicate  him.  Liberius  had  man- 
fully resisted  the  emperor's  dictation ;  he  had  been  exiled  to  Thrace, 
and  during  his  absence  an  Arian  bishop,  Felix,  had  been  thrust  into 
the  see.  The  Christians  then  absented  themselves  from  the  churches, 
and  now  that  the  heretical  tyrant  appeared  among  them,  the  women 
came  in  long  procession,  like  the  Roman  matrons  of  old,  to  remon- 
strate with  him  for  his  sacrilege.  Constantius  tried  to  compromise 
by  declaring  that  Liberius  and  Felix  should  both  be  bishops  of  Rome 
conjointly.  He  delivered  his  decree  in  the  circus.  "  Shall  we  have 
factions  in  the  church  as  in  the  circus?"  exclaimed  the  indignant 


126 


I  T  A  L  Y 


359-361 


multitude.     "One  God,  one  Christ,  one  Bishop!"  was  the  univer- 
sal cry. 

Liberius,  broken  in  spirit  by  his  distant  banishment,  submitted 
to  the  imperial  will,  and  was  allowed  to  return  to  Rome ;  but  the 
Christians  were  not  to  be  so  easily  subdued.      When  Felix  attempted 


ROMAN     EMPIRE 

PRETECTURES  Of    CONSTANTINf. 
PARTITION   OF    CAoT  AND  WEST 


to  perform  episcopal  functions  in  public,  they  broke  into  open  riot. 
The  streets  and  the  baths  were  deluged  with  blood.  The  factions 
of  Marius  and  Sulla  were  renewed,  not  for  men,  but  for  principles. 
Eventually  Felix  fled.  Liberius  resumed  his  throne,  and  was  not 
again  disturbed.  He  prudently  stayed  away  from  the  council  held 
by  Constantius  at  Ariminium,  at  which  the  Arian  heresy  was  for- 
mally proclaimed  and  made  the  predominant  faith.  The  Council 
of  Ariminium  sat  in  the  year  359  a.  d.  Constantius  himself  died 
in  361. 


Chapter    XIX 

PROGRESS    OF   CHRISTIANITY.     355-604 

AFTER  the  slaughter  of  Gallus,  already  mentioned,  the  only 
scion  of  the  house  of  Constantine  who  survived  was 
l  Julianus.  He  had  been  educated  in  the  Christian  religion, 
and  had  studied  first  at  Milan  and  afterward  at  Athens,  where  he 
devoted  himself  eagerly  to  the  philosophy  and  the  creeds  of  pagan 
antiquity.  Through  the  favor  of  the  Empress  Eusebia,  he  was 
advanced  to  the  rank  of  Caesar,  and  invested,  in  355  a.  d.,  with  the 
government  of  Gaul,  which  was  suffering  from  the  incursions  of  the 
Allemanni.  His  administration  of  the  province  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful; the  invaders  were  driven  out;  the  Rhenish  frontier  was 
strengthened. 

On  his  accession,  Julian,  who  had  never  been  in  Rome,  at  once 
crossed  the  Bosphorus,  and  proceeded  to  Antioch  to  prepare  for  an 
invasion  of  Persia.  His  short  reign  was  spent  entirely  in  Asia. 
At  Antioch  he  cultivated  the  intimacy  of  the  pagan  men  of  letters, 
and  especially  of  the  sophist  Libanus.  He  quickly  threw  off  the 
profession  of  Christianity,  and  restored  with  much  ceremony  the 
ritual  and  the  sacrifices  of  the  pagan  deities.  Julian  pretended  to 
discover  the  most  refined  philosophy  hidden  under  the  forms  of 
vulgar  idolatry;  he  also  affected  an  austere  life  of  self-denial,  and 
aimed  at  proving  by  his  practice  that  the  morality  of  paganism  was 
superior  to  that  of  Christianity. 

Julian's  expedition  against  Persia  was  a  brilliant  advance.  He 
floated  down  the  Euphrates  with  a  powerful  army,  and  then  waited 
for  reinforcements  from  Armenia  before  undertaking  the  siege  of 
Ctesiphon.  Disappointed  of  these  succors,  he  nevertheless  pene- 
trated into  the  interior  of  Persia.  Sapor  retreated  before  him, 
allowed  him  to  pass  by  his  forces,  and  then  attacked  the  exhausted 
Romans  in  the  rear.  Julian  repulsed  the  enemy  with  great  spirit, 
but  was  slain  in  the  pursuit.  The  Christian  Jovian  was  acclaimed 
emperor  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  he  succeeded  in  extricating  his 
legions  from  their  perilous  position.     The  imperial  apostasy  had 

127 


128  ITALY 

355-604 

triumphed  for  two  years  only,  and,  as  every  Christian  held,  had 
been  signally  punished. 

The  history  of  Rome  has  now  become  little  else  than  the  his- 
tory of  the  progress  of  Christianity.  To  this  progress  the  apostasy 
of  Julian  gave  indeed  a  transient  check,  but  it  was  succeeded  by  an 
era  of  more  vigorous  advance.  The  religious  policy  of  Constan- 
tine  had  been  conspicuous  for  its  moderation.  He  tolerated  and 
even  favored  Christianity,  but  he  took  no  hostile  action  against  the 
ancient  religion.  He  retained  the  title  of  Chief  Pontiff  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  and  the  Roman  Senate,  the  stronghold  of  paganism, 
refused  to  regard  him  as  an  apostate,  and  enrolled  him  at  last  among 
the  gods.  Doubtless  Constantine  was  politic  as  well  as  zealous. 
He  would  not  forfeit  the  support  of  the  pagans  by  overt  hostility, 
yet  some  of  his  measures  were  calculated  to  advance  the  interests 
of  the  new  creed  and  to  depress  the  position  of  the  old.  When 
the  Christian  ministers  were  allowed  to  share  with  the  pagan 
priesthood  their  immunity  from  the  burdens  of  municipal  office,  it 
was  a  clear  gain  to  them,  for  they  were  not  weighted  like  their 
rivals,  with  the  cost  of  public  shows.  The  laws  enacted  by  Con- 
stantine against  divination  and  magic  were  a  great  discouragement 
to  the  aruspices  and  to  the  pagan  priests  in  general,  whose  services 
were  closely  connected  with  magical  arts  and  incantations.  The 
closing  on  moral  grounds  of  the  temples  of  Venus,  which  had 
become  mere  resorts  of  public  licentiousness,  was  another  blow  to 
the  old  system,  and  foreshadowed  its  approaching  dissolution. 

The  Christians  might  well  be  hopeful  of  the  triumph  of  their 
cause;  yet  they  were  still  in  a  minority,  and  their  progress  was 
delayed  by  two  important  circumstances.  The  withdrawal  of  the 
emperors  from  Rome  threw  the  prestige  of  authority  into  the  hands 
of  the  Senate  and  the  nobles,  who,  as  the  representatives  of  the  old- 
est traditions  of  the  city,  adhered  almost  universally  to  paganism. 
The  intellectual  classes,  the  sophists  and  the  orators,  supported 
the  nobles  in  their  resistance  to  the  new  faith.  Altogether,  pagan- 
ism was  the  fashion  at  Rome.  It  was  rarely  that  the  Christians 
could  boast  of  a  convert  among  the  leaders  of  society,  and  when 
such  an  event  occurred  they  chanted  their  victory  in  no  measured 
tones.  The  conversion  of  Victorinus,  the  most  popular  champion 
of  the  worship  of  the  pagan  deities,  and  especially  those  of  Egypt, 
made  a  great  stir.  When  it  was  announced  that  he  was  about  to 
recant  in  public  his  old  opinions,  and  make  a  solemn  profession  of 


PROGRESS     OF    CHRISTIANITY         129 

355-604 

his  Christian  faith,  crowds  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  the  impression 
produced  by  this  and  similar  incidents  upon  the  popular  mind  was 
very  strong. 

The  progress  of  Christianity  was  further  impeded  by  the  dis- 
sensions of  Christians  among  themselves.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
in  a  society  collected  from  every  clime  and  nation  diverse  interpreta- 
tions of  its  fundamental  teaching  should  spring  up,  and  when  perse- 
cution ceased  and  a  sense  of  security  succeeded,  these  divisions 
became  embittered,  some  parties  obstinately  resisting  the  teaching 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  despite  all  its  efforts.  Meanwhile  paganism, 
with  little  abatement  of  external  splendor,  was  slowly  crumbling  to 
decay.  The  temples  were  still  open,  the  sacrifices  were  not  disused, 
the  priests  enjoyed  their  endowments.  But  all  enthusiasm  for  the 
system  was  dead;  the  prodigality  of  offerings  and  ceremonies  was 
curtailed;  the  temples  fell  into  disrepair;  the  priesthood,  with  its 
attendant  expenses,  was  regarded  as  a  burden  rather  than  an  honor. 
Had  the  church  been  more  united,  she  might  perhaps  even  now  have 
entered  upon  the  inheritance  of  her  predecessors. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  Julian  was  so  far  influenced  by 
the  religion  which  he  was  combating  that  he  endeavored  to  engraft 
some  of  its  living  principles  upon  the  dead  stock  of  the  old  system, 
and  to  bring  about  not  only  a  ceremonial,  but  a  moral  revival  of 
paganism.  He  felt  the  force  of  the  argument  that  a  true  faith 
must  be  shown  by  good  deeds,  and  he  urged  his  co-religionists  to 
take  the  Christians  as  an  example  in  moral  conduct,  and  to  emulate 
them  in  works  of  charity,  while  they  excelled  them,  as  he  proclaimed, 
in  real  piety.  He  put  his  teaching  in  practice  by  commanding  the 
foundation  of  hospitals  for  the  sick,  a  good  deed  hitherto  without 
precedent  on  the  part  of  a  pagan.  But  all  Julian's  efforts  to  gal- 
vanize into  life  the  dead  corpse  of  paganism  were  in  vain.  Neither 
the  educated  teachers  nor  the  ignorant  multitude  showed  any  sym- 
pathy for  his  enthusiasm.  They  cared  not  for  its  ritual  nor  for  its 
doctrines,  and  its  costly  sacrifices  were  regarded  as  a  burden  and 
suffered  to  fall  into  disuse.  Against  an  institution  so  thoroughly 
effete,  Christianity  could  not  fail  to  advance  with  steady  progress. 

The  prevailing  attitude  of  the  public  mind  toward  the  rival 
religions  which  were  striving  for  the  mastery  was  undoubtedly  one 
of  indifference,  and  in  nothing  was  this  more  plainly  shown  than  in 
the  facility  with  which  the  soldiers  of  Julian,  who  had  daily  attended 
his  pagan  sacrifices,  transferred  their  allegiance  to  the  Christian 


130  ITALY 

353-604 

standard  of  the  labarum,  under  which  Jovian  conducted  his  retreat. 
The  position  of  the  army  was  critical,  and  in  providing  for  its 
safety  it  was  judged  best  to  surrender  the  strong  fortress  of  Nisibis, 
and  withdraw  the  Empire  once  more  within  the  frontier  line  of  the 
Euphrates.     Jovian  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  ability. 

In  religious  matters  he  showed  impartial  tolerance  toward  the 
orthodox,  the  heretics,  and  the  pagans ;  but  he  did  justice  to  the 
claims  of  Athanasius,  and  reinstated  him  in  his  bishopric.  After 
a  short  reign  of  seven  months,  he  fell  sick,  and  died  before  reaching 
Constantinople  in  364  a.  d. 

The  ministers  or  officers  of  the  late  emperor's  court  chose  for 
his  successor  Valentinian,  a  Pannonian  soldier  of  low  origin  but 
distinguished  prowess.  Though  devoid  of  literary  culture,  he  was 
a  thorough  disciplinarian,  and  soon  proved  his  capacity  for  gov- 
ernment. His  first  act  on  reaching  Constantinople  was  to  divide 
the  Empire  with  his  brother  Valens,  taking  the  Western  provinces 
for  his  own  share.  Valentinian  set  up  his  court  at  Milan,  but  soon 
repaired  to  Treves  in  order  to  personally  conduct  the  war  against 
the  Allemanni.  His  courage  and  activity  were  in  full  request  and 
he  engaged  in  person  in  many  battles,  often  coming  off  victorious, 
but  never  able  to  inflict  a  decisive  blow.  He  was  remarkable  for 
the  justice  and  vigor  of  his  civil  government,  and  he  was  unfairly 
charged  with  cruelty  on  account  of  the  severity  with  which  he  chas- 
tised the  corruption  of  his  officers.  He  associated  with  himself  his 
son  Gratian,  and  educated  him  wisely  for  his  future  position  of 
power.  After  reigning  for  twelve  years,  he  died  from  the  effects 
of  a  violent  fit  of  passion. 

Valentinian  pursued  the  same  tolerant  and  impartial  policy  in 
matters  of  religion  as  his  predecessors.  Invested  like  them  with 
the  office  of  supreme  pontiff,  he  could  not  persecute  the  pagans, 
but  he  took  no  active  part  in  pagan  ceremonies.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  attacked  unsparingly  the  professors  of  magical  arts,  which 
were  at  that  time  a  highly  popular  form  of  superstition,  and  which 
were  so  intertwined  with  the  pagan  ceremonial  that  his  prosecution 
of  the  one  might  seem  to  detract  from  his  impartiality  toward  the 
other.  Meanwhile  the  Christians  continued  to  advance  their  cause 
with  vigor,  but  we  can  hardly  venture  to  trace  their  success  to  the 
genuine  spirit  of  their  religion.  They  won  their  way  no  longer  by 
the  graces  of  lowliness  and  meekness,  which  had  signalized  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  faith  in  earlier  times. 


PROGRESS     OF    CHRISTIANITY         131 

355-604 

In  the  absence  of  the  emperors  from  Rome,  the  position  of  the 
bishop  of  that  city  had  become  one  of  no  mean  secular  importance. 
It  conferred  wealth  and  splendor,  attracted  the  devotion  of  women 
of  the  highest  rank,  and  raised  its  fortunate  holder  to  the  pinnacle 
of  fashion  as  well  as  of  luxury.  Accordingly,  it  became  the  object 
of  contentious  rivalry,  and  was  sought  for  with  all  the  artifice  and 
violence  which  had  formerly  disgraced  the  competition  for  the  con- 
sulship. The  episcopal  chair  of  Rome  was  now  indeed  a  prize 
worth  contending  for  by  an  ambitious  man.  By  the  West  of  Europe 
Rome  had  ever  been  regarded  as  the  very  center  of  the  universe 
in  things  military  and  secular.  The  church  was  still  a  militant  body, 
fighting  indeed  with  spiritual  weapons,  but  feeling  the  need  of  dis- 
cipline, control,  and  guidance.  Yet  it  was  not  till  the  time  of 
Gregory  the  Great  (590-604)  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  began  to 
assume  a  position  which  faintly  foreshadowed  the  papal  position  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  still  for  some  centuries,  till  the  quarrel 
with  Constantinople  in  the  eighth  century,  regarded  merely  as  fore- 
most bishop  in  the  West — Primus  inter  Pares.  By  insensible 
degrees  he  assumed  and  enforced  his  jurisdiction  over  the  other 
bishops  of  Italy,  though  the  claim  to  universal  dominion  was  still 
far  from  being  asserted. 

The  pagan  nobility  of  Rome,  unable,  as  of  old,  to  repress  the 
church  by  force,  affected  to  regard  the  Christians  with  lofty  dis- 
dain. Rome  had  fallen  out  of  the  great  current  of  political  life, 
and  rested  in  a  quiet  backwater;  but  she  was  still  as  magnificent  as 
ever ;  she  still  gave  her  name  to  the  Empire ;  and  her  sons  still 
proudly  boasted  that  her  greatness  was  due  to  the  favor  of  the  gods 
of  Rome.  The  most  conspicuous  leaders  of  the  old  Roman  senti- 
ment at  this  period  were  two  senators  of  learning  and  refinement — 
Vettius  Pretextatus,  a  philosopher  and  a  priest,  who  had  been  ini- 
tiated into  the  mysteries  of  Ceres,  Cybele,  Astarte,  and  Mithras; 
and  Symmachus,  a  celebrated  orator.  These  two  eminent  men 
were  destined  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  opposing  the  advance  of 
Christianity. 


Chapter    XX 

GRATIAN   AND   THEODOSIUS.     375-408 

VALENTINIAN  at  his  death  in  375  a.  d.  left  two  sons.  The 
elder,  Gratian,  was  in  his  seventeenth  year;  the  younger, 
who  bore  his  father's  name,  and  was  the  child  of  a  second 
and  favorite  wife,  was  a  mere  infant.  A  contest  for  the  succession 
seemed  not  unlikely;  but  Gratian,  who  was  of  a  kindly  disposition, 
obtained  the  support  of  the  legions  on  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
and  further  secured  his  authority  by  marrying  a  granddaughter  of 
the  great  Constantine.  He  not  only  declared  himself  the  protector 
of  his  infant  brother,  but  associated  him  with  himself  in  the  Empire. 
Hitherto  the  emperors,  on  assuming  the  office  of  Chief  Pontiff,  had 
allowed  themselves  to  be  invested  with  the  consecrated  robe  of  honor 
which  pertained  to  it.  But  the  Christian  sentiment  was  too  strong 
in  Gratian  to  permit  him  to  conform  to  this  custom.  The  early 
teaching  of  the  great  Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan,  had  impressed 
upon  his  mind  the  sacredness  of  his  Christian  profession.  When 
the  pontifical  robes  were  offered  to  him  by  a  deputation  of  the  Sen- 
ate, he  positively  refused  to  wear  them,  though  he  would  seem  to 
have  acquiesced  in  the  assumption  of  the  title.  The  distinction  he 
made  may  have  been  a  subtle  one,  but  it  indicated  a  more  pro- 
nounced adherence  on  the  part  of  the  emperor  to  the  Christian 
religion,  and  as  such  must  have  given  rise  to  alarm  among  the 
pagans  at  Rome. 

This  feeling  of  insecurity  was  doubtless  increased  when  the  im- 
perial commands  arrived  at  Rome  to  remove  the  statue  and  altar 
of  Victory  which  adorned  the  Senate-house,  and  before  which  it 
was  customary  for  the  senators  to  burn  a  few  grains  of  incense  at 
the  commencement  of  each  sitting.  The  Christian  minority  nat- 
urally objected  to  be  partakers  or  even  witnesses  of  this  idolatrous 
practice,  and,  trusting  to  the  favor  of  Britain  and  the  support  of 
Ambrose,  they  had  urged  the  removal  of  the  idol.  The  pagan 
senators,  thoroughly  alarmed,  sent  a  deputation  to  the  emperor  at 
Milan  to  plead  against  the  enforcement  of  the  order.     Gratian  re- 

132 


GRATIAN     AND     THEODOSIUS  133 

375-378 

fused  to  receive  them,  on  the  ground  that  they  did  not  represent 
the  whole  body  of  senators.  When  the  young  Valentinian  was 
associated  in  the  Empire,  the  opportunity  was  seized  by  the  mal- 
contents to  address  a  second  memorial  on  the  subject  to  the  two 
rulers.  Leave  was  given  to  Symmachus  to  transmit  his  plea  in 
writing,  and  to  Ambrose  was  intrusted  the  duty  of  preparing  a 
reply.  The  imperial  decision,  as  might  be  expected,  was  in  favor 
of  Ambrose.  The  statue  which  had  been  removed  was  ordered 
not  to  be  replaced;  and  this  decision  was  supported  by  the  chief 
magistrates  of  the  Empire,  some  of  whom  took  the  opportunity  of 
declaring  themselves  Christians. 

Had  the  fortune  of  war  been  adverse,  it  would  greatly  have 
strengthened  the  case  of  the  pagans,  who  would  have  argued,  with 
some  show  of  reason,  that  such  reverses  were  the  just  punishment 
for  the  slights  offered  to  the  gods  of  Rome.  Happily,  no  such 
handle  was  given  to  the  enemies  of  the  Christian  religion.  The 
government  of  Gratian  was  marked  throughout  by  successful  war- 
fare on  the  frontiers,  and  by  peace  and  prosperity  within  them.  He 
himself  won  a  great  victory  over  the  Germans  across  the  Rhine. 
For  a  moment,  indeed,  Gratian  might  claim  the  united  Empire 
for  his  own.  Valens,  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  had  been  defeated 
and  slain  by  the  Goths  at  Adrianople.  This  battle  in  378  a.  d., 
marks  the  beginning  of  the  final  Teutonic  invasions  of  the  Empire. 
After  this  defeat  Valens'  authority  lapsed  to  Gratian,  who  had  col- 
lected large  forces  to  oppose  the  barbarians.  Gratian,  however, 
hastened  to  relieve  himself  of  the  increased  burden  of  empire,  and 
after  a  short  interval  placed  his  ablest  general,  Theodosius,  on  the 
throne  of  Constantinople.  With  the  help  of  the  new  emperor  and  of 
his  Frankish  allies  he  effected  a  settlement  of  affairs  on  the  Danube, 
and  ceded  large  tracts  in  Maesia  and  Pannonia  to  the  Goths,  where 
it  was  hoped  they  would  settle  quietly,  and  cease  to  be  a  standing 
menace  to  the  civilization  of  the  South.  Nevertheless,  the  pagan 
party  continued  to  appeal  both  to  Gratian  and  to  Theodosius  for 
the  restoration  of  their  favorite  image;  and  their  anxiety  was  in 
some  measure  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Christian  emperor  was  grad- 
ually appropriating  the  endowments  of  temples  and  priestly  offices 
which  were  falling  into  disuse  or  abeyance.  Another  measure  di- 
rected against  the  old  religion  was  the  prohibition  of  legacies  to 
the  Vestal  Virgins,  whose  assumption  of  the  virtue  of  chastity  seems 
to  have  been  specially  obnoxious  to  the  Christians. 


IiJ-4  ITALY 

378-389 

During  these  latter  years  Gratian  had  been  gradually  losing  the 
esteem  of  his  subjects,  devoting  himself  too  exclusively  to  the  idle 
pleasures  of  the  chase,  and  associating  on  terms  of  intimacy  with 
the  barbarian  Alaric,  to  whom  he  intrusted  the  protection  of  his 
person.  He  had  thus  laid  himself  bare  to  the  attack  of  the  first 
adventurous  rebel.  The  army  of  Britain  had  long  been  quartered 
there,  and  regarded  itself  as  distinct  from  the  main  body  of  the 
army.  Taking  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  the  reigning  prince, 
it  revolted,  and  forced  an  officer,  named  Maximus,  to  assume  the 
purple.  Gratian  was  at  the  time  residing  at  Paris,  and  when  the 
usurper  crossed  the  Channel  his  troops  refused  to  arm  in  his  de- 
fense. The  luckless  emperor  fled  southward,  hoping  perhaps  for 
aid  from  the  forces  of  Valentinian  and  Theodosius.  But  he  lingered 
too  long  at  Lyons,  where  he  was  captured  and  slain  by  his  enemy. 
Theodosius  took  no  steps  to  avenge  his  benefactor,  but  recognized 
the  usurper  Maximus  as  the  ruler  of  the  West,  stipulating  only 
that  Valentinian  should  retain  his  sovereignty  over  Italy,  Illyricum, 
and  Africa.  The  Roman  world  was  thus  once  more  divided  between 
a  triumvirate  of  rulers  in  383  a.  d. 

Meanwhile  the  young  Valentinian  was  being  brought  up  at 
Milan  by  his  mother,  Justina,  in  the  Arian  heresy ;  and  this  hetero- 
doxy led  to  frequent  and  scandalous  contests  between  the  court  and 
the  powerful  bishop  Ambrose,  the  very  champion  of  orthodoxy. 
Ambrose,  indeed,  had  rendered  good  service  to  his  young  sovereign 
by  so  conducting  the  negotiations  with  Maximus  as  to  deter  the 
usurper  from  advancing  into  Italy.  But  his  own  conduct  toward 
the  emperor  was  scarcely  less  aggressive;  and  when  at  length  Va- 
lentinian was  induced  to  require  his  departure  from  Milan,  he  ar- 
rogantly refused  obedience,  trusting  to  the  support  of  the  popular 
sentiment  and  an  array  of  pretended  miracles. 

Four  years  after  the  death  of  Gratian,  Maximus  suddenly 
crosssed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  appeared  at  the  gates 
of  Milan.  Valentinian  and  his  mother  could  barely  escape  to  Aqui- 
leia,  whence  they  set  sail  to  the  East  and  threw  themselves  upon  the 
protection  of  Theodosius.  Italy  surrendered  without  a  blow  to 
Maximus,  who  paid  a  visit  to  Rome,  and  was  there  called  upon 
to  settle  the  controversy  between  the  Christians  and  the  pagans. 
He  gained  little  credit  and  no  assistance  from  either  party,  and 
was  obliged  to  rely  solely  upon  his  own  armed  followers.  The- 
odosius, who  had  married  Galla,  the  sister  of  Valentinian.  took  up 


GRATIAN     AND     THEODOSIUS  135 

389-395 

the  exile's  cause  in  earnest.  With  him  were  allied  the  Huns,  the 
Goths,  and  the  Alani,  while  the  Gauls  and  the  Germans  sustained 
the  ruler  of  the  West.  The  contest  was  decided  at  Siscia,  on  the 
Save;  Theodosius  triumphed,  and  Maximus,  hotly  pursued,  was 
taken  and  killed  at  Aquileia  in  389  a.  d. 

The  victor  remained  three  years  in  Italy,  and  was  for  that 
time  at  least  the  actual  ruler  of  the  West  as  well  as  of  the  East ;  but 
he  intended  no  disloyalty  to  the  young-  Valentinian,  whom  he  re- 
instated as  emperor  over  all  the  provinces  which  obeyed  his  father 
and  his  brother.  Unfortunately,  Valentinian  was  too  feeble  to  ob- 
tain that  mastery  over  his  soldiers  and  his  officers  without  which 
no  man  could  hope  to  retain  imperial  power  at  that  critical  time. 
He  was  publicly  set  at  naught  by  the  Frankish  general  Arbogas- 
tes,  whom  he  had  reprimanded  before  his  courtiers,  and  was  soon 
after  assassinated  by  the  agents  of  the  offended  barbarian  (392  a.d.)  . 
Arbogastes  might  easily  have  seized  the  prize  of  empire  which  lay 
ready  to  his  hand,  but  he  preferred  to  confer  the  sovereignty  rather 
than  to  keep  it.  He  chose  for  the  high  but  empty  dignity  Eugenius, 
the  grammarian,  who  had  been  chief  secretary  of  the  imperial  house- 
hold. This  man  was  the  last  imperial  ruler,  either  in  the  West  or 
in  the  East,  who  professed  himself  a  pagan.  His  accession  was 
the  signal  for  an  outburst  of  triumph  and  of  fanaticism  on  the  part 
of  the  old  pagan  party  throughout  Italy.  The  statue  of  Victory 
was  at  last  reinstated  in  the  Senate-house.  The  confiscated  endow- 
ments of  the  priesthood  were  given  back.  The  Bishop  of  Milan 
was  horrified  by  the  threat  that  his  cathedral  church  should  be  turned 
into  a  stable. 

Theodosius,  indignant  at  the  murder  of  his  protege  and  the  re- 
vival of  paganism,  made  preparations  for  punishing  the  authors  of 
these  crimes.  By  the  time  that  he  was  ready  to  take  the  field 
Eugenius  and  Arbogastes  had  fortified  the  passes  of  the  Julian  Alps, 
and  stood  ready  to  defend  them,  invoking  the  protection  of  Hercules 
and  Jupiter  Tonans.  Theodosius  trusted  with  better  confidence 
in  the  standard  of  the  labarum,  and,  in  spite  of  some  reverses  at  the 
first  encounter,  inspired  his  troops  with  his  own  enthusiasm,  and 
led  them  to  a  decisive  victory.  Eugenius  was  taken  and  put  to 
death.  Arbogastes  fell  upon  his  own  sword  in  the  year  394.  Till 
his  death  the  next  year  Theodosius  was  sole  emperor,  and  this  was 
the  last  time  that  the  whole  Empire  acknowledged  one  ruler,  the 
division  made  in  395  between  East  and  West  proving  permanent. 


136  ITALY 

395 

At  the  instance  of  Ambrose,  the  pagans  were  spared  the  horrors 
of  a  persecution ;  but  their  religion  was  once  more  abased,  and  this 
time  temples,  sacrifices,  endowments,  and  idols  were  swept  away. 
Six  months  after  his  victory  over  Eugenius,  Theodosius  died.  By 
the  pagans  he  was  deified.  From  the  Christians  he  received  the 
posthumous  title  of  "  The  Great,  "  which  he  had  well  deserved  by 
the  services  he  had  rendered  to  their  religion.  Theodosius  was  a 
brave  and  able  general,  and  a  generous  and  high-minded  man. 
He  was  noted  for  his  clemency ;  and  if  on  one  occasion  he  punished 
the  rebels  of  Thessalonica  with  barbarity,  he  atoned  for  his  crime 
in  the  eyes  at  least  of  his  Christian  admirers,  by  the  submission  he 
made  to  Ambrose  when  the  bishop  forbade  him  admission  to  the 
Christian  Church  on  account  of  his  blood-guiltiness.  The  penitence 
of  Theodosius  is  celebrated,  and  has  borne  fruit  for  centuries  in 
the  church,  which  it  first  encouraged  to  dictate  its  laws  to  princes. 
This  act  may  well  serve  to  mark  the  turning  point  at  which  the 
old  world  comes  to  an  end,  and  the  new  world  commences. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  defeat  of  Valens  by  the 
Goths ;  and  it  is  necessary  now  to  recur  briefly  to  the  events  which 
led  to  it.  The  Gothic  hordes  had  entered  Europe  two  centuries  be- 
fore in  two  divisions;  the  Visigoths  had  settled  themselves  in  the 
regions  bordering  on  the  Danube  and  the  Alps,  while  the  Ostro- 
goths occupied  the  Russian  steppes  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Baltic. 
After  many  conflicts,  the  two  hordes  were  compacted  into  one  great 
nation  under  the  great  King  Hermanaric,  whose  empire  extended 
over  the  regions  of  Hungary,  Poland,  and  Courland.  Here  the 
Goths  changed  from  a  nomadic  to  a  settled  and  semi-civilized  race, 
and  here  they  received  their  first  instruction  in  Christianity  from 
their  apostle  Ulphilas,  who  translated  the  Scriptures  into  their 
tongue.  In  the  year  374  a  new  Mongolian  horde,  of  hideous  aspect 
and  warlike  nature,  known  in  history  as  the  Huns,  crossed  the  Volga 
and  the  Don,  and  begain  to  press  the  Goths  westward  and  south- 
ward. The  Ostrogoths  yielded  before  their  fierce  assailants,  while 
the  Visigoths,  to  the  number  of  200,000  warriors,  besides  women 
and  children,  came  down  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Danube,  and 
begged  a  refuge  in  the  plains  of  Msesia  of  the  Christians  of  the 
Roman  Empire. 

Valens  was  far  away  at  Antioch,  busy  with  theological  con- 
troversies, and  ill  able  to  detach  legions  enough  to  restrain  this 
armed  multitude  from  forcing  the  passage  of  the  Danube.     The 


GRATIAN     AND     THEODOSIUS  137 

395-396 

Romans  agreed  to  permit  the  Goths  to  settle  within  the  Empire, 
the  Goths  promising  to  surrender  their  arms  and  give  hostages.  It 
is  possible  that  the  Goths  would  have  kept  the  peace  had  not  the 
corrupt  Roman  officials  who  were  in  charge  tried  to  make  money- 
out  of  the  new  settlers  and  allowed  them  to  buy  back  their  arms 
and  overcharged  them  for  food.  Finally  the  Goths  were  reduced  to 
misery  and  marched  toward  Constantinople.  Valens  heard  with 
alarm  that  his  lieutenant  Lupicinus  had  been  defeated  by  the  bar- 
barians, and  hastened  from  the  East  to  stop  their  onward  course. 
He  found  them  already  advanced  as  far  as  Adrianople,  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  his  capital.  Without  waiting  for  Gratian,  he 
gave  battle,  but  suffered  a  complete  defeat,  and  was  himself  slain. 
The  Goths  had  no  means  of  attacking  a  fortified  place  like  Con- 
stantinople; but  they  extended  their  devastations  all  over  Thrace 
and  Macedonia,  till  their  career  was  arrested  by  the  vigor  and  genius 
of  Theodosius. 

The  barbarians  were  never  able  to  prevail  against  able  captains 
backed  by  disciplined  troops ;  but  when  supplied  with  Roman  arms 
and  training  they  made  admirable  auxiliaries.  Theodosius  sub- 
dued the  Goths  and  intrusted  them  with  the  defense  of  the  Da- 
nubian  frontier.  They  might  have  continued  to  be  useful  depend- 
ents of  the  Empire  had  his  successors  been  as  energetic  as  he  was. 
Before  his  death  Theodosius  associated  his  eldest  son,  Arcadius, 
with  himself  in  the  Empire  of  the  East,  and  confided  the  West  to 
his  younger  son,  Honorius.  Arcadius,  who  was  eighteen  years  old, 
was  placed  under  the  tutelage  of  Rufinus,  who  proved  a  traitor  to 
his  interests.  Honorius,  who  was  but  eleven,  had  for  his  minister 
the  brave  and  faithful  Stilicho,  a  chief  of  the  Vandals.  This  man 
was  himself  married  to  Serena,  a  niece  of  his  imperial  patron,  and 
his  daughter  Maria  was  betrothed  to  Honorius.  After  securing 
the  loyalty  and  strengthening  the  frontiers  of  Gaul  and  Britain, 
and  putting  down  the  revolt  of  Gildo,  the  faithless  governor  of  Car- 
thage, Stilicho  led  the  legions  of  Theodosius  back  to  Constantinople 
and  delivered  Arcadius  from  the  intrigues  of  Rufinus,  whose  as- 
sassination was  generally  considered  a  just  punishment  of  his 
treachery.  But  he  was  not  in  time  to  save  Greece  from  being  rav- 
aged by  the  Goths.  These  barbarians  had  quitted  their  settlements 
on  the  Danube,  and,  headed  by  Alaric,  had  already  penetrated  into 
the  Peloponnesus,  destroying,  in  their  savage  zeal  for  Christianity, 
all  the  monuments  of  paganism.     Stilicho  inflicted  a  defeat  upon 


138  ITALY 

396-406 

them.  But  the  jealousy  of  Arcadius  was  now  aroused,  and  he  sent 
Stilicho  back  to  Italy  with  gifts  and  compliments,  and  engaged 
Alaric  to  defend  him  against  his  brother  and  his  brother's  minister. 

Alaric  and  his  Visigoths  soon  wearied  of  a  defensive  attitude 
and  determined  to  invade  Italy  on  their  own  account.  They  burst 
into  Lombardy,  and  appeared  before  the  gates  of  Milan.  At  the 
first  news  of  danger  Honorius  had  been  sent  for  safety  to  Ravenna, 
and  Stilicho  had  rushed  into  Gaul  to  collect  all  the  troops  he  could 
muster.  Returning  promptly,  he  threw  himself  into  Milan,  soon 
in  his  turn  assumed  the  offensive,  and,  after  defeating  Alaric  in 
two  great  battles  at  Pollentia  and  Verona,  drove  the  barbarians 
for  the  present  fairly  out  of  Italy  in  403  a.  d.  Honorius,  who  had 
been  cowering  behind  the  walls  of  Ravenna,  announced  that  he 
would  celebrate  this  victory  of  the  Roman  arms  by  a  Roman 
triumph.  This  was  the  last  of  the  long  series,  not  less,  it  is  said, 
than  three  hundred  in  number ;  and  the  last  of  the  Roman  triumphs 
has  been  grandly  described  by  the  pagan  Claudian,  the  last  of  the 
Roman  Poets. 

Rome  put  forth  all  the  magnificence  that  remained  to  her.  The 
palace  of  the  Caesars  was  furbished  up  for  the  emperor's  reception. 
If  the  poet  may  be  believed,  columns,  statues,  domes,  and  pinnacles 
glittered  with  gold.  He  goes  so  far  as  to  represent  the  temples 
and  images  of  the  gods  as  radiant  with  splendor,  but  does  not  ven- 
ture to  assert  that  any  victim  was  offered  in  sacrifice  by  the  Chris- 
tian emperor.  We  cannot  doubt  that  for  a  long  time  previous 
paganism  had  been  steadily  declining  before  the  advancing  power 
of  Christianity.  If  any  proof  were  needed,  it  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  in  the  very  next  year  the  gladiatorial  shows  were  finally 
abolished,  in  consideration  of  the  offense  they  gave  to  the  Christian 
sentiment  of  the  people. 

The  defeat  of  Alaric  was  not  the  last  great  service  which  Stil- 
icho rendered  to  Rome  and  Italy.  The  withdrawal  of  so  many 
legions  to  oppose  the  Goths  had  left  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine  with- 
out defenders.  Germany  was  teeming  with  a  host  of  mingled 
tribes — Suevi,  Allemanni,  Vandals,  Alans — all  forced  into  move- 
ment by  the  pressure  of  the  Goths  and  Huns.  A  vast  multitude  of 
these  barbarians,  reckoned  at  200,000,  or  by  some  at  400,000,  headed 
by  a  pagan  chief  named  Radagsesus,  burst  into  Italy,  and,  ravag- 
ing all  before  them,  arrived  at  Faesulse  on  the  hill  above  Florence. 
Stilicho  had  spared  no  effort  to  raise  forces  which  might  cope  with 


GRATIAN     AND     THEODOSIUS  139 

406-408 

this  host  of  invaders.  He  succeeded  in  surrounding  the  horde  with 
his  troops,  and  defeated  them  in  a  decisive  battle.  Radagsesus 
made  terms  of  surrender,  which  were  agreed  to,  but  not  observed. 
The  chief  was  put  to  death  and  his  followers  sold  into  slavery 
in  406  a.  d. 

The  gates  of  the  Rhine  having  been  once  thrown  open,  this 
first  invasion  was  quickly  followed  by  others.  Gaul  and  Spain 
were  overrun  by  the  barbarians,  and  practically  lost  to  the  Em- 
pire. In  this  crisis  Honorius,  urged  on  by  his  courtiers  and  his 
own  suspicions,  determined  to  get  rid  of  the  one  man  still  able 
to  protect  him  against  the  manifold  dangers  of  the  time  and  suc- 
ceeded in  arresting  his  valiant  protector.  Stilicho  and  his  son 
were  put  to  death ;  his  estates  were  confiscated,  and  his  friends  and 
followers  proscribed. 


Chapter    XXI 

THE    SACK   OF    ROME   BY   THE   GOTHS.    408-410 

STILICHO  had  perished  in  the  spring-  of  the  year  408.  Alaric 
had  already  descended  from  the  Alps,  and,  passing  by  Hon- 
orius  and  Ravenna,  was  marching-  direct  for  Rome.  At  such 
a  moment  as  this  Honorius  issued  a  decree  that  every  officer  who 
would  not  make  a  public  profession  of  Christianity  should  be  dis- 
missed from  the  army.  Generides,  the  best  remaining-  general,  re- 
tired from  the  service.  His  assistance  could  not  be  dispensed  with ; 
the  decree  was  withdrawn,  and  he  resumed  his  command.  But  it 
was  too  late  to  interpose  between  Alaric  and  Rome.  The  ramparts 
of  Aurelian  had  been  repaired,  but  there  were  no  soldiers  to  man 
them,  and  the  citizens  were  incapable  of  making  any  defense.  In 
their  terror,  the  magistrates  listened  to  a  proposal  to  have  recourse 
to  the  ancient  rites,  and  to  propitiate  the  aid  of  the  pagan  gods  by 
a  solemn  sacrifice  on  the  Capitol.  Pope  Innocent  was  sounded  on 
the  subject,  but  refused  his  consent  to  any  public  demonstration 
of  the  kind.  Meanwhile  Alaric,  at  the  head  of  his  nation  of  war- 
riors, besieged  the  city.  He  was  no  violent  or  bloodthirsty  bar- 
barian, but  politic  and  greedy  of  money;  greedy,  too,  of  supplies 
with  which  to  feed  his  armed  hosts.  He  made  no  attack,  but 
waited  patiently  till  the  city  should  fall  by  famine.  The  resources 
of  the  city  were  soon  exhausted.  It  became  necessary  to  treat ;  but 
Alaric's  demands  were  so  exorbitant  that  the  Romans  threatened 
him  with  the  despair  of  their  immense  multitude.  "  The  thicker 
the  hay, "  he  exclaimed  derisively,  "  the  easier  to  mow  it !"  When 
at  last  he  named  his  lowest  terms,  they  asked  in  dismay,  "  What, 
then,  would  you  leave  us  ?  "  "  Your  lives ! "  was  the  only  reply 
he  vouchsafed  them. 

The  ransom  paid  for  Rome  is  stated  in  detail  as  5000  pounds 
of  gold,  30,000  of  silver,  4000  silken  robes,  3000  pieces  of  scarlet 
cloth,  3000  pounds  of  pepper.  The  payment  seems  to  have  taxed 
the  resources  of  Rome  to  the  utmost ;  and  in  order  to  meet,  it,  not 
only  were  the  images  of  the  gods  stripped  of  their  ornaments  of 
gold  and  precious  stones,  but  those  of  them  whose  material  was 

140 


<   £ 


SACK     OF     ROME  141 

408-410 

gold  or  silver  were  cast  bodily  into  the  melting-pot.  Among  them 
was  one  of  Courage,  or  Virtue,  as  the  Romans  called  her.  Those 
who  professed  to  forecast  the  future  might  well  predict  that  ruin 
would  soon  follow  such  a  sacrifice.  There  is  good  reason  to  think 
that  the  Roman  people,  at  this  terrible  crisis,  were  haunted  by  mis- 
givings that  their  humiliation  might  be  due  to  their  abandonment, 
of  their  ancient  faith.  Olympius,  the  minister,  who  had  favored 
the  Christians  and  robbed  the  heathen  temples  without  mercy,  fell 
by  a  court  intrigue.  Honorius  diverted  his  persecuting  zeal  from 
the  pagans,  and  attacked  the  Jews  and  heretics  instead. 

In  the  following  year,  409  a.  d.,  Alaric  advanced  again  upon 
Rome,  and,  passing  round  the  walls,  seized  Ostia.  The  imperial 
city,  deprived  of  all  her  supplies,  opened  her  gates  and  awaited  her 
conqueror's  commands.  This  time  the  Goth  thought  fit  to  erect  a 
rival  emperor  at  Rome  in  the  person  of  his  minion  Attalus,  who, 
though  he  submitted  to  Arian  baptism,  openly  favored  the  pagan 
party  in  the  city.  Three  leaders  of  that  party,  Lampadius,  Marci- 
anus,  and  Tertullus,  were  appointed  to  the  offices  of  captain  of  the 
praetorians,  prefect  of  the  city,  and  consul.  Tertullus  assumed  the 
office  of  Chief  Pontiff,  in  addition  to  the  consulship,  amid  the 
general  enthusiasm  of  the  old  Roman  faction.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  a  reaction  set  in  against  this  new  government.  He- 
raclian,  prefect  of  Africa,  stopped  the  export  of  corn  to  the  city, 
and  the  populace  rose  in  its  alarm  and  drove  away  its  feeble  ruler 
with  execrations  and  insults.  Alaric  required  Attalus  to  renounce 
his  throne,  but  himself  advanced  a  third  time  against  the  devoted 
city. 

The  Romans  had  extorted  from  Honorius  the  futile  succor  of 
six  cohorts,  which  could  hardly  have  amounted  to  more  than  1000 
men.  They  closed  their  barriers,  and  pretended  to  defend  them ; 
but  the  Salarian  gate  was  opened  at  night  by  treachery,  and  the 
barbarians  entered  the  city  on  August  24,  410  a.  d.,  exactly  800 
years  from  its  conquest  by  the  Gauls.  Alaric,  fierce  as  he  was, 
was  no  heathen  barbarian  bent  on  slaughter  and  destruction;  but 
his  warriors  demanded  pillage,  and  for  six  days  Rome  was  given 
up  to  be  sacked  by  them.  Doubtless  many  deeds  of  cruelty  were 
done  during  that  period  of  violence.  Houses  and  temples  were 
burned.  Women  were  dishonored.  Concealed  treasures  were 
drawn  to  light  by  threats  and  tortures.  The  Christian  churches, 
however,  seem  to  have  been  respected;  the  believers  and  even  the 


142  ITALY 

410 

pagans  who  took  sanctuary  in  them  were  unharmed;  and  many- 
stories  are  told  of  how  the  ferocious  Goths  were  softened  to  respect- 
ful kindness  by  the  conduct  of  the  holy  Christian  women.  It  was 
well,  perhaps,  that  Pope  Innocent  was  away  at  Ravenna  at  the 
time,  and  so  the  strife  was  not  embittered  by  the  denunciation  of 
the  heretic  Goths  by  the  chief  of  the  orthodox  believers.  Alaric 
quitted  Rome  at  the  end  of  twelve  days,  and  led  his  plundering 
horde  through  the  center  and  south  of  Italy,  ravaging  towns  and 
villas,  devasting  estates,  and  setting  free  the  slaves.  Many  Ro- 
man nobles  and  senators  were  reduced  to  utter  destitution ;  many 
of  them  fled  beyond  sea.  Numbers  of  Christians  escaped  to  Africa 
and  found  hospitable  entertainment  in  that  flourishing  province; 
but  their  spirit  of  levity  and  worldliness  is  said  to  have  caused  grave 
scandal  in  the  bosom  of  a  purer  and  simpler  society.  Alaric  con- 
tinued his  career  of  destruction  to  the  extremity  of  Italy,  where 
it  was  cut  short  by  death.  With  his  last  breath  he  commanded  his 
body  to  be  buried  beneath  the  channel  of  the  river  Busentinus,  so 
as  to  secure  his  remains  from  insult. 

The  sack  of  Rome  by  the  Goths  was  accepted  by  the  Roman 
world  as  the  judgment  of  God  upon  paganism,  and  the  old  re- 
ligion never  again  reared  its  head.  The  laws  against  its  ceremonial, 
long  held  in  abeyance,  were  now  enforced.  The  temples  were  con- 
verted into  churches;  and  the  Christian  priesthood  stepped  into  the 
deserted  inheritance  of  their  pagan  predecessors.  This  entire  dis- 
comfiture of  the  party  which  clung  to  the  old  Roman  religion  need 
not  surprise  us,  when  we  consider  how  completely  their  faith  cen- 
tered in  the  invincible  might,  the  inviolable  sanctity,  of  the  city  of 
Rome  herself.  In  their  view,  the  glorious  career  of  the  Roman 
commonwealth  had  been  due  to  the  protecting  favor  of  the  gods. 
All  her  defeats,  all  her  disasters,  had  redounded  ultimately  to  her 
triumph,  and  her  triumph  had  been  extended  over  three  con- 
tinents, and  protracted  through  twelve  centuries.  It  seemed  to  them 
that  her  dominion  must  be  destined  to  be  eternal.  If  Rome  fell 
the  world  would  come  to  an  end ;  and  as  their  faith  in  the  early 
mythologies  waned,  they  made  a  god  of  their  noble  city  and  wor- 
shiped and  trusted  in  the  deified  genius  of  Rome.  But  this  faith 
required  an  outward  and  visible  sign,  and  with  the  fall  of  Rome 
their  creed  was  hopelessly  shattered,  amid  a  wail  of  disappoint- 
ment and  dismay  such  as  has  never  perhaps  been  heard  in  the  world 
before  or  since. 


SACK     OF     ROME  143 

410 

The  Christians  of  an  earlier  age  had  shared  the  pagan  expec- 
tation of  the  permanence  of  Rome's  dominion.  Tn  their  eyes,  the 
idolatrous  imperial  government  represented  and  embodied  the  spirit 
and  the  power  of  this  world  which  must  ever  be  opposed  to  the 
church,  which  had  the  promise  of  the  world  to  come.  The  only- 
end  of  the  Roman  Empire  which  they  could  conceive  as  possible 
was  the  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire,  which  they  had  been  ex- 
pecting for  so  many  generations.  If  such  a  consummation  of  all 
things  should  occur  in  his  own  time,  the  Christian  could  still  look 
with  hope  beyond  the  fall  of  Rome,  and  find  consolation  in  the 
prospect  of  the  heavenly  city,  "  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens,"  which  he  believed  was  prepared  to  receive  the  ser- 
vants of  God.  Now,  however,  to  the  amazement  of  all  men,  Rome 
was  racked,  ruined,  and  discrowned,  yet  the  world  did  not  perish. 
"  A  great  destiny  had  been  accomplished,  a  great  destiny  was  about 
to  commence. "  Augustine  seized  the  opportunity,  and  issued  his 
powerful  treatise  entitled  the  "  City  of  God."  In  it  he  showed  the 
vanity  of  that  worship  of  the  City  of  Man  by  which  the  pagan 
world  had  been  beguiled.  In  place  of  imperial  Rome,  he  pointed 
to  the  Church  of  Christ  as  the  true  city  of  refuge  in  which  mankind 
might  find  salvation.  The  pagans  had  no  reply  to  make.  Their 
long-dominant  superstitions  shrunk  henceforth  from  the  light  of 
day  and  found  an  obscure  refuge  among  the  traditions  of  the 
ignorant  peasantry. 

The  triumph,  however,  of  Christianity  was  not  unalloyed.  The 
masses  who  were  left  without  a  creed  had  to  be  swept  into  the  Gos- 
pel net,  and  the  easiest  way  to  do  this  was  to  make  concessions  to 
their  superstitious  ignorance  which  detracted  from  the  purity  of 
the  Gospel.  The  doctrines  of  Christianity  were  too  lofty  and  too 
severe  to  be  readily  accepted  by  the  corrupt  population  of  the  Roman 
world.  But  when  they  saw  the  old  pagan  ceremonial  rivaled,  if 
not  surpassed,  by  a  parade  of  lights  and  incense,  vestments,  pictures, 
images,  and  votive  offerings,  it  was  not  difficult  to  submit  to  so 
slight  a  change  in  the  outer  forms  of  devotion.  The  multitudinous 
gods  of  pagan  worship  were  replaced  by  saints  of  Christian  venera- 
tion. The  statues  of  the  ancient  gods  found  their  counterpart  in 
sacred  images  and  symbols.  By  such  devices  as  these  the  multitude 
were  induced  to  acquiesce  in  the  transformation  of  the  heathen 
temples  into  Christian  churches.  There  were  not  wanting  high- 
souled  characters  in  that  day  who  protested  against  this  dangerous 


144  I  T  A  L  Y 

410 

trifling-;  but  their  voice  was  generally  overruled.  The  patrons  of  a 
corrupt  reaction  were  honored  and  magnified.  Vigilantius  was  de- 
nounced; Jerome  was  canonized.  The  Christian  Church  could  not 
fail  to  suffer  in  strength  and  purity  by  the  absorption  within  her  body 
of  such  a  degraded  mass  of  humanity  as  the  Greek  and  Roman  races 
then  presented.  On  the  other  hand,  she  has  conquered  for  herself  a 
people  of  stronger  moral  fiber  in  the  barbarians  from  whom  modern 
society  has  sprung,  and  has  molded  them  to  a  higher  sense  of  morals 
and  religion  than  any  before  them.  Since  the  fall  of  Rome,  and  of 
Roman  superstition,  the  world  generally  has  recognized  a  higher 
standard  of  truth  and  justice,  of  purity  and  mercy.  The  fall  of 
Rome  is  still  the  greatest  event  in  all  secular  history. 

To  give  briefly  an  account  of  the  causes  of  the  decline  and  fall 
of  Rome's  power  is  very  difficult.  "  The  most  obvious  element  of 
weakness  in  the  Roman  Empire  was  the  increasing  depopula- 
tion. .  .  .  The  original  cause  of  depopulation  in  Italy  was 
the  slave  system,  which  ruined  the  middle  class  of  small  proprietors 
and  created  a  proletariat  .  .  .  and  the  financial  policy  of  the 
later  Empire  .  .  .  effectually  hindered  the  population  from 
recovering  itself  .  .  .  the  only  remedy  .  .  .  was  itself 
an  active  element  of  disintegration  .  .  .  the  introduction  of 
barbarians  as  soldiers  or  agriculturists.  ...  A  fourth  dis- 
integrating element  (after  depopulation,  slavery,  taxation)  was 
the  Christian  religion,  which  was  entirely  opposed  to  the  Roman 
spirit  which  it  was  destined  to  dissolve.  .  .  .  These  four  ele- 
ments undermined  the  Roman  world,  partly  by  weakening  it,  partly 
by  impairing  its  Roman  character  and  changing  the  views  of  life 
which  determined  the  atmosphere  of  Roman  society."1 

To  say  which  element  had  the  greatest  responsibility  is  also 
difficult,  but  it  was  probably  mainly  due  to  economic  causes — slav- 
ery (wasting  both  men  and  capital),  heavy  taxes,  oppressively 
levied;  a  debased  currency  (with  a  varying  standard  of  value)  ;  the 
demoralizing  practice  of  providing  free  grain  for  the  city  mobs — 
such  were  some  of  the  prime  factors  in  the  fall  of  Rome. 

i  J.  B.  Bury,  "  Later  Roman  Empire,"  vol.  i.  pp.  25,  26,  35. 


Chapter  XXII 

FARTHER    ADVANCE    OF    THE    BARBARIANS 

423-476 

THE  Goths  had  conquered  Rome;  the  Empire  of  the  West 
lay  at  their  feet ;  yet,  strange  to  say,  they  had  the  modesty 
and  the  nobility  of  mind  to  decline  an  inheritance  of  which 
they  felt  themselves  unworthy.  Alaric  was  dead.  His  successor 
was  Ataulphus  (Adolf),  who  during  the  sack  of  Rome  had  got 
possession  of  Placidia,  a  daughter  of  Theodosius,  and  had  married 
her.  This  man  was  no  vulgar  barbarian.  So  deeply  was  he  im- 
pressed with  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  Government,  and  the  com- 
plexity of  the  institutions  wherewith  it  maintained  the  civilization 
of  the  age,  that  he  determined  not  to  destroy  the  Empire,  but  to 
protect  it.  He  withdrew  his  host  of  Goths  from  Italy,  and  carved 
out  for  himself  a  kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  in  Spain  and  the  south 
of  France.  There  he  ruled  as  king;  but  he  continued  to  acknowledge 
Honorius  as  emperor  over  both  the  Romans  and  himself.  The 
kingdom  of  the  Visigoths  foreshadowed  the  fiefs  of  the  feudal  vas- 
sals of  a  later  age.  It  sprung  from  the  same  Teutonic  soil,  and  was 
due  perhaps  to  the  same  cast  of  political  ideas  which  has  so  largely 
shaped  the  polity  of  modern  Europe.  Thus  the  Empire,  after  its 
recent  degradations,  entered  upon  a  short  revival  of  dignity  and 
prosperity.  The  influence  of  Rome  over  men's  minds  began  also 
to  recover  itself  through  the  growing  authority  of  her  bishops. 
While  the  church  throughout  the  West  was  suffering  an  eclipse 
from  the  inroads  of  successive  hordes  of  barbarians,  some  heathen 
and  others  heretical,  the  Papacy  was  laying  the  foundations  of  its 
power,  as  the  heir  to  the  imperial  government  which  had  abdi- 
cated its  responsibilities. 

The  Visigoths  under  Ataulphus  were  settled  in  the  north  of 
Spain  and  the  south  of  Gaul;  but  ruder  hordes  of  Sueves  and 
Alans,  Vandals  and  Burgundians,  overran  the  greater  part  of  both 
countries,  plundering  the  natives  and  fighting  with  one  another. 
The  provincials,  who,  having  adopted  the  speech  and  manners  of 
Rome,  were  now  known  as  Romans,  found  themselves  abandoned 

145 


146  I  T  A  L  Y 

423 

by  the  emperor,  and  submitted  to  the  rule  of  their  new  masters, 
which  was  perhaps  scarcely  so  heavy  as  the  fiscal  tyranny  of  the 
imperial  administration.  Literature  flourished  in  Gaul  and  Spain. 
The  barbarians  were  not  insensible  to  the  charms  of  poetry  and 
eloquence ;  they  were  captivated  by  the  luxuries  of  Roman  society ; 
they  were  awed  by  the  strength  and  subtlety  of  Roman  jurispru- 
dence; they  embraced  with  peculiar  readiness  the  forms  of  munici- 
pal government  established  in  the  provinces.  But  they  were  not 
yet  ready  for  the  repose  of  a  settled  life;  and  by  purchasing  the 
services  of  one  tribe,  and  employing  them  against  another,  their 
nominal  sovereign  at  Ravenna  was  still  able  to  prevent  them  from 
establishing  permanent  governments  of  their  own. 

During  this  period  various  usurpers  among  the  provincials  as- 
sumed the  purple,  and  grasped  at  a  little  brief  authority.  The  court 
of  Ravenna  had  broken  faith  with  Ataulphus  in  respect  of  the  pay- 
ment of  a  subsidy  of  corn  or  money.  Thereupon  the  Visigoths 
began  to  ravage  the  Roman  settlements  in  the  south  of  Gaul.  Con- 
stantius  was  unable  to  defend  them,  but  he  persuaded  the  bar- 
barian to  carry  his  arms  into  Spain,  where  he  found  the  Sueves  and 
Vandals  opposed  to  him.  The  struggle  which  then  began  was  con- 
tinued for  nearly  two  hundred  years,  till  at  length  the  kingdom  of 
the  Visigoths  was  established  throughout  Gallicia,  Asturia,  and  the 
other  northern  provinces  of  the  peninsula.  The  Vandals  had  set- 
tled themselves  in  the  south,  where  they  attached  their  name  to 
the  modern  Andalusia.  From  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  the 
Roman  Empire  was  irrecoverably  lost  throughout  the  Iberian 
peninsula. 

On  the  death  of  Ataulphus,  the  Goths  chose  for  their  chief  a 
warrior  of  the  royal  race  named  Wallia,  who  at  once  sent  back 
Placidia  to  the  court  of  Ravenna.  The  emperor  gave  her  to  his 
loyal  general  Constantius,  and  her  son  by  this  marriage  succeeded 
to  Honorius,  when  still  a  mere  stripling,  with  the  title  of  Valen- 
tinian  III.  (423).  The  reign  of  Honorious  had  been  the  longest 
but  one  of  the  whole  imperial  series.  He  came  to  the  throne  as 
a  child,  and  though  he  never  seemed  to  grow  out  of  childhood,  he 
counted  thirty-seven  years  of  empire.  His  character  was  utterly 
insignificant;  he  heard  the  news  of  the  loss  of  one  province  after 
another  with  an  inane  jest ;  he  had  been  found  at  one  of  the  crises 
of  his  career  amusing  himself  with  his  poultry.  It  was  this  insig- 
nificance which  saved  him.     Honorius  had  adopted  his  sister's  son, 


ADVANCE     OF     BARBARIANS  147 

423-447 

and  when  his  death  occurred  soon  after,  Theodosius  II.,  the  Em- 
peror of  the  East,  recognized  the  young  Valentinian  as  heir  to  the 
throne  of  Ravenna.  An  attempt  was  made  by  Joannes,  the  late 
emperor's  secretary,  to  seize  upon  the  government;  but  Placidia 
frustrated  the  adventurer's  plans,  and  secured  her  son's  inheritance. 

That  inheritance  had  dwindled  to  a  narrow  span.  Gaul  and 
Spain  had  been  lost.  Britain,  invaded  by  barbarians  both  by  sea 
and  land,  was  but  nominally  retained.  Illyria  and  Pannonia  were 
overrun  by  the  Goths.  Africa  was  about  to  be  wrested  from  the 
Empire  by  a  barbarian  conqueror.  Placidia  assumed  the  regency 
at  Ravenna,  supported  by  two  illustrious  senators,  the  patrician  Ae- 
tius,  and  the  consul  Bonifacius.  Aetius,  though  by  birth  a  Scyth- 
ian, has  been  called  "  the  last  of  the  Romans."  He  was  the  last 
leader  of  the  Roman  armies;  he  gained  the  last  Roman  victory. 
Bonifacius  governed  Africa  loyally  till  he  was  traduced  to  Placidia 
and  recalled.  Fancying  that  his  recall  was  but  the  prelude  to  his 
execution,  the  story  is  told  that  he  invited  the  Vandals  to  cross 
over  from  Spain  to  his  assistance.  Genseric,  who  was  reigning 
in  Bcetica,  promptly  obeyed  the  summons,  and  led  his  hosts  across 
the  Mediterranean  in  quest  of  the  plunder  which  had  tempted  both 
Alaric  and  Wallia  (429).  Meanwhile  Boniface,  reassured  as 
to  the  intentions  of  the  Ravenna  Government,  resolved  to  defend 
his  province  faithfully.  He  maintained  the  contest  valiantly,  but 
the  barbarians  overcame  all  resistance,  and  at  the  end  of  five  years 
Valentinian  formally  ceded  to  them  the  entire  province.  Genseric, 
however,  continued  to  sail  the  Mediterranean  with  his  fleet,  con- 
quered the  great  islands  of  that  sea,  harassed  the  coasts  of  Greece 
and  Italy,  and  raised  the  Ostrogoths  against  the  Eastern  Empire 
and  the  Visigoths  against  the  Western.  Finally  he  allied  himself 
to  the  yet  more  formidable  power  of  the  Huns. 

This  terrible  people  were  for  the  time  abiding  in  Hungary, 
and  occupied  the  north  bank  of  the  Danube  under  their  chiefs,  At- 
tila  and  Bleda.  Attila  was  held  in  horror,  not  by  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  only,  but  by  the  Goths,  and  all  the  other  northern  triebs 
who  had  preceded  him  into  the  Roman  territories.  His  mission 
seemed  to  be  to  slay,  to  plunder,  to  destroy.  He  constructed  no 
house  nor  city.  Blood  and  fire  marked  his  track.  He  delighted  to 
call  himself  the  "  Scourge  of  God."  After  vanquishing  the  troops 
of  Theodosius,  and  imposing  a  tribute  on  him.  he  turned  north- 
ward  and  attacked  the  tribes  on  the  Elbe  and  the  Baltic,  and  then 


148  ITALY 

447-454 

crossed  the  Don  and  the  Volga  to  attack  the  Tartars.  Finding, 
however,  that  the  Byzantine  court  had  failed  to  pay  its  tribute,  he 
rushed  back  to  the  Danube  and  ravaged  Thrace  and  Illyria.  Theo- 
dosius  in  vain  recalled  the  forces  he  had  sent  against  Genseric;  he 
lost  Africa,  but  did  not  regain  the  right  bank  of  his  frontier  river. 

The  emperors  of  the  East  and  West  now  united  in  negotiating 
with  Attila  to  deter  him  from  attacking  the  Empire.  He  consented, 
but  threw  himself  instead  upon  the  Visigoths  in  Gaul.  When  Aetius 
undertook  to  defend  them,  Franks,  Burgundians,  and  Romans 
flocked  to  his  standard.  The  ravages  of  the  Huns  combined  every 
nationality  against  them.  Attila  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Strassburg, 
and  devastated  the  country  as  far  as  Orleans.  That  city  closed  its 
gates,  and  determined  to  resist.  Aetius  arrived  to  its  rescue,  and  the 
Huns,  weary  of  the  blockade,  retreated.  Near  Chalons  on  the  Marne 
they  were  overtaken  and  defeated  with  heavy  slaughter  (451). 
Attila,  however,  made  good  his  retreat  with  a  large  unbroken  force, 
and  carried  off  a  multitude  of  captives.  Many  of  these  were  prob- 
ably slaughtered,  but  the  story  of  the  massacre  of  the  11,000  vir- 
gins at  Cologne  is  no  doubt  a  figment  or  a  blunder. 

In  the  following  year  Attila  invaded  Italy  by  way  of  Illyria 
and  sacked  Aquileia,  Padua,  and  Verona.  The  fugitives  from  these 
cities  took  refuge  in  the  islands  of  the  Veneti,  where  they  became  the 
founders  of  Venice,  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic,  the  Carthage  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  Huns  lingered  long  in  the  Cisalpine,  but 
terrified  the  Romans  with  threats  of  an  early  march  to  the  south- 
ward. The  court  of  Ravenna  was  paralyzed  with  terror.  Aetius 
was  far  away.  The  only  man  who  showed  courage  was  Leo  the 
Great,  Pope  of  Rome.  Leo  visited  the  camp  of  Attila  in  company 
with  the  imperial  envoys,  and  owing  either  to  his  success  in  arous- 
ing Attila's  superstitious  fears  or  to  the  Hun  king's  realization  of 
the  natural  difficulties  (fevers,  etc.)  in  his  way,  Attila  did  not  go 
to  Rome,  but  returned  beyond  the  Alps.  The  Pope  pointed  out  to 
him  the  death  of  Alaric,  which  followed  soon  after  his  sack  of  Rome. 
Valentinian  at  the  same  time  promised  a  heavy  bribe ;  and  under 
this  manifold  pressure  Attila  consented  to  recross  the  Alps.  Soon 
after  his  return  to  his  stockade  on  the  Danube,  he  was  found  unac- 
countably dead  in  his  bed. 

Rome  had  had  a  narrow  escape,  but  her  reprieve  was  of  short 
duration.  The  wretched  Valentinian,  more  contemptible  even  than 
Honorius,  conceived  a  jealousy  of  his  only  defender,  Aetius,  and 


ADVANCE     OF     BARBARIANS  14<? 

454-457 

poniarded  him  with  his  own  hand.  He  was  himself  assassinated 
a  few  months  later  by  a  senator  named  Maximus,  who  assumed 
the  purple,  and  requested  Eudoxia,  the  widow  of  Valentinian  and 
daughter  of  the  younger  Theodosius,  to  accept  his  hand.  She 
bowed  to  the  odious  necessity,  but  at  the  same  time  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  Genseric  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  sovereign  emperor.  The 
Vandal  chief  was  not  slow  to  seize  such  an  opportunity  for  plun- 
der; his  fleet  was  in  readiness,  and  the  Vandals,  in  overwhelming 
force,  sailed  up  the  Tiber.  In  spite  of  all  that  Pope  Leo  could  do 
1:0  save  the  city,  Rome  was  given  up  to  pillage  for  fourteen  days 
(455  a.  d.).  The  Vandals  heaped  their  vessels  with  ornaments  of 
gold  and  silver,  with  metal  statues,  with  the  precious  trophies  sus- 
pended in  the  Capitol  and  the  Temple  of  Peace.  They  carried  off  the 
golden  candlestick  and  other  treasures  of  the  ancient  Temple  of 
Jerusalem.  They  stripped  the  Capitol  of  half  its  gilded  tiles.  Many 
of  these  treasures  were  lost  in  a  tempest,  but  the  golden  candlestick 
reached  the  African  capital,  was  recovered  a  century  later,  and  lodged 
in  Constantinople  by  Justinian,  and  by  him  replaced  from  supersti- 
tious motives  in  Jerusalem.  From  that  time  its  history  is  lost. 
Among  the  many  captives  carried  off  to  Carthage  were  the  Em- 
press Eudoxia  and  the  two  daughters  she  had  borne  to  Valentinian. 
Eudoxia  was  surrendered  to  Leo,  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  but 
Genseric  gave  one  of  her  children  in  marriage  to  his  own  son,  and 
was  proud,  perhaps,  thus  to  connect  his  dynasty  with  the  imperial 
blood  of  an  illustrious  Roman. 

Genseric  and  his  horde,  when  they  had  stripped  Rome  of  all 
her  wealth,  went  on  to  pillage  Nola,  Capua,  and  other  southern 
towns.  Their  sole  object  was  booty,  and  they  did  not  concern  them- 
selves to  organize  any  imperial  government.  The  race  of  Theo- 
dosius was  extinct ;  Maximus  had  been  stoned  to  death ;  and  the 
Romans  now  invited  one  Avitus,  a  nobleman  of  Gaul,  to  assume 
the  diadem.  He  was  a  man  of  peace,  a  cultivator  of  arts  and  elo- 
quence, a  fit  shadow  to  place  upon  the  shadow  of  a  throne.  The 
army  and  the  officers  stood  aloof.  None  among  them  seemed  to 
covet  the  empty  honor.  The  Senate,  however,  were  soon  weary  of 
Avitus,  and  engaged  Ricimer,  a  Sueve,  to  expel  him  from  the  city. 
Avitus  returned  quietly  to  his  home  and  his  garden  in  Auvergne. 
For  ten  months  the  throne  of  the  West  stood  vacant,  till,  in  the 
spring  of  457,  Ricimer  condescended  to  bestow  it  upon  another 
Sueve  named  Marjorianus.       This  nominee  was  no  man  of  straw. 


150  ITALY 

457-475 

He  had  served  under  Aetius,  and  at  once  set  to  work  to  organize 
the  legions  and  appoint  able  captains  to  command  them.  He  led 
his  troops  with  success  against  the  Vandals,  who  still  troubled  the 
coast  of  Italy,  and  even  meditated  an  attack  upon  Genseric  in  his 
own  country.  At  the  head  of  a  mingled  host  of  Goths,  Sueves, 
Huns,  and  Alans,  which  he  had  assembled  in  Gaul,  he  marched 
into  Spain,  expecting  to  find  his  fleet  awaiting  him  at  Carthagena. 
Genseric,  however,  had  anticipated  him,  and  by  means  of  treachery 
had  succeeded  in  destroying  the  armament.  Marjorian  was  baffled 
and  forced  to  retire.  Ricimer  had  now  become  jealous  of  his 
authority  and  conspired  against  him.  Marjorian  was  compelled 
to  abdicate,  and  died  a  few  days  after  doing  so,  not  without  sus- 
picion of  poison. 

The  style  of  emperor  was  now  conferred  upon  an  insignificant 
person  named  Severus,  who  dangled  the  reins  of  government  for 
some  years.  During  his  reign  a  pretender  named  Marcellinus,  who 
seems  to  have  been  the  tool  of  the  pagan  party,  wrested  Dalmatia 
from  the  Empire,  and  called  himself  emperor.  On  the  death  of 
Severus,  Ricimer  ruled  Italy  for  two  years  with  the  title  of  patri- 
cian; he  seems  to  have  shrunk  from  climbing  himself  into  the  seat 
of  the  Caesars.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  however,  he  appointed 
one  Anthemius  to  be  emperor  on  the  recommendation  of  Marcianus, 
the  Emperor  of  the  East,  to  whose  daughter  he  was  married.  An- 
themius received  the  support  of  Marcellinus  and  the  innovating 
party,  and  he  has  been  regarded,  on  somewhat  slight  grounds,  as 
the  representative  of  paganism  in  its  last  effort  to  recover  its  lost 
ground.  He  tried  to  strengthen  his  position  by  a  second  marriage 
with  Ricimer's  daughter,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  jealousy  of  the 
Sueve  was  again  aroused ;  he  invited  a  fresh  horde  of  barbarians 
to  cross  the  Alps,  and  in  472  Rome  was  for  the  third  time  taken  and 
pillaged.  Anthemius  was  put  to  death  and  replaced  by  Olybrius, 
the  noble  to  whom  Genseric  had  given  Eudoxia's  second  daughter 
in  marriage.  Genseric  died  in  the  following  month,  and  Olybrius 
followed  him  before  the  end  of  the  year.  Glycerius  was  next  raised 
to  the  purple  by  Ricimer's  soldiers,  but  within  two  years  he  was 
compelled  to  retire  in  favor  of  Julius  Nepos,  a  man  who  at  least 
bore  a  genuine  Roman  name.  Glycerius  was  allowed  to  retire  to 
Salona,  of  which  place  he  became  bishop.  Nepos  was  constrained 
to  abdicate  in  the  following  year,  and  found  repose  in  the  same 
quiet  spot  among  the  gardens  of  Diocletian  in  475  a.  d. 


ADVANCE     OF     BARBARIANS  151 

475-476 

This  last  revolution  was  effected  like  those  which  had  preceded 
it.  Orestes,  a  Pannonian  of  Roman  origin,  had  won  wealth  and 
reputation  at  the  court  of  Attila.  On  the  death  of  Ricimer  he  ob- 
tained the  title  of  patrician,  which  ranked  next  to  the  imperial  dig- 
nity, and  was  equivalent  to  regent  of  the  Empire.  Orestes  com- 
pelled Nepos  to  abdicate,  and  conferred  the  Empire  upon  his  own 
son,  a  child  of  six  years,  who,  by  a  singular  coincidence,  bore  the 
names  of  Romulus  Augustulus.  The  imperial  throne  depended  at 
this  time  for  support  upon  a  barbarian  chieftain,  Odoacer,  who 
stood  at  the  head  of  a  number  of  German  tribes.  This  man  allowed 
Orestes  to  dispose  of  the  Empire  as  he  pleased,  but  demanded  as 
the  price  of  his  consent  that  one-third  of  the  lands  of  Italy  should 
be  given  to  his  warriors.  Orestes  angrily  refused;  he  made  peace 
with  the  king  of  the  Vandals,  and  applied  for  aid  to  the  Emperor 
of  the  East.  Odoacer,  however,  marched  into  Italy  with  an  irre- 
sistible force,  captured  Orestes  and  his  brother  Paulus  at  Patavium, 
and  put  them  both  to  death,  and  extinguished  the  feeble  rule  of 
Augustulus.  This  occurred  in  August,  476.  The  young  Augus- 
tulus was  allowed  to  retire  to  the  delicious  villa  of  Lucullus  at 
Surrentum. 

Very  commonly  a  false  meaning  is  given  the  date  476,  by 
saying  it  marks  the  "  fall  of  the  Western  Empire."  There  was  no 
Western  Empire  to  fall,  for  in  theory  the  Empire  had  never  been 
divided,  but  merely  two  emperors  had  been  set  up.  The  date  is 
also  often  taken  to  mark  the  "  turning  point  "  between  ancient  and 
medieval  history  and  perhaps  serves  this  purpose  as  well  as  sev- 
eral other  dates  which  might  equally  well  be  taken. 

"  The  minds  of  men  were  really  unable  to  grasp  the  fact  that 
so  vast  and  perdurable  a  structure  as  the  Roman  Empire  could  ut- 
terly perish.  If  it  seemed  to  have  suffered  ruin  in  the  West,  it  still 
lived  in  the  East.  .  .  .  This  belief  in  the  practical  indestructi- 
bility of  the  Empire  and  the  consequences  which  flowed  from  it 
three  centuries  after  the  deposition  of  Augustulus  in  the  elevation 
of  Charles  the  Great,  have  been  reestablished  in  their  proper  place, 
one  might  almost  say  have  been  rediscovered,  by  the  historical 
students  of  our  own  times,  and  the  whole  history  of  the  Middle 
Ages  has  been  elucidated  by  this  central  fact."  1 

The  eminent  English  historian,  E.  A.  Freeman,  was  prominent 
in  combating  this  erroneous  idea  as  to  the  significance  of  the  revo- 
1  T.  Hodgkin  '"  Italy  and  Her  Invaders,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  540-1. 


152  ITALY 

476 

lution  of  476,  and  says:  "But  as  the  news  that  the  Roman  Empire 
had  come  to  an  end  would  have  sounded  very  strange  at  Constan- 
tinople, so  it  would  have  sounded  no  less  strange  at  Soissons  or  at 
Salona.  .  .  .  The  only  difference  between  the  revolution  of 
476  and  a  crowd  of  earlier  revolutions  was  that  Odoacer  found 
that  it  suited  his  purpose  to  acknowledge  the  nominal  superiority 
of  an  absent  sovereign  rather  than  to  reign  in  the  name  of  a  present 
puppet  of  his  own  creation."2 

2  Freeman,  "  Chief  Periods  of  European  History,"  pp.  65,  96. 


PART    II 

ITALY   IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 
476-1494 


Chapter    XXIII 

ODOACER,  FIRST  KING  OF  ITALY,  AND  THE  INVASION 
OF   THEODORIC.    476-526 

J^LTHOUGH  a  barbarian  by  birth,  Odoacer  showed  great 
/— \  capacity  and  solid  good  sense,  worthy  of  the  dignity  to 
JL  JL  which  he  had  now  raised  himself.1  It  must  be  admitted, 
indeed,  that  he  seized  and  usurped  the  property  of  the  conquered 
to  enrich  his  own  soldiers;  but  he  had  promised  to  them  a  third 
part  of  the  lands  on  condition  that  they  elected  him  to  be  king, 
and  this  promise  he  felt  bound  to  fulfill.  Such  a  procedure  would 
have  been  fraught  with  far  greater  injustice  had  it  not  been  in 
a  manner  necessitated  by  the  paucity  of  regular  inhabitants  at  that 
time,  and  the  need  there  was  for  more  help  to  cultivate  the  soil. 

The  Senate,  by  order  of  Odoacer,  sent  a  deputation  to  Zeno, 
the  Eastern  emperor,  saying  one  emperor  was  enough  for  all  the 
Empire  and  that  Odoacer  would  act  as  his  vice-regent  in  the 
West.2 

Odoacer  had  not  reigned  many  years  when  a  barbarian  chief 
named  Theodoric,  who  led  a  large  army  of  Ostrogoths,  began  to 
threaten  the  frontiers  of  the  country.  The  Ostrogoths  were  a  por- 
tion of  those  vast  hordes  of  northern  barbarians  who  poured  down 
through  Germany  upon  the  Danube  and  there  divided  themselves 
into  two  great  companies,  the  Ostrogoths,  or  Goths  of  the  East; 
the  Visigoths,  or  Goths  of  the  West. 

These  Ostrogoths,  occupying  as  they  did  the  lower  Danube, 
came  naturally  into  conflict  with  the  emperors  of  the  East.  They 
had  been  repeatedly  bought  off  by  those  emperors  with  bribes  and 
tributes;  and  Zeno,  who  now  held  the  imperial  throne  at  Constan- 
tinople, was  induced  by  his  fears  to  invest  Theodoric  with  the  con- 

1  "  The  old  imperial  machinery  of  government  was  taken  over  by  the  new 
ruler,  and  in  all  outward  appearance  things  probably  went  on  under  King 
Odovakar  much  as  they  had  done  under  Count  Ricimer."— Hodgkin,  "  Theo- 
doric," p.  105. 

2  Bryce,  "  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  p.  23. 

155 


156  ITALY 

489-493 

sular  robe,  and  give  him  permission  to  reconquer  Italy  to  the  Em- 
pire. Theodoric  accordingly  marched  westward  with  a  large  army 
of  followers  in  order  to  enter  Italy  through  the  Venetian  territory. 

At  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  these  fresh  enemies,  Odoacer 
summoned  his  forces  and  marched  into  Illyria  in  order  to  defend 
his  states.  His  army  was  numerous ;  but  the  soldiers,  having  re- 
mained long  in  a  state  of  inactivity,  showed  themselves  more 
eager  to  escape  than  to  fight,  and  thus  suffered  a  grave  defeat  in 
the  August  of  489  a.  d.  Odoacer,  nothing  daunted,  raised  a  sec- 
ond army,  and  went  to  confront  the  enemy  on  the  banks  of  the 
Adige,  near  the  city  of  Verona;  and  here  it  was  that  the  great 
battle  was  fought  which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  these  two  illus- 
trious warriors. 

It  is  related  that  on  the  morning  of  that  memorable  day  Theo- 
doric went  to  the  tent  in  which  his  mother  and  sister  were  sitting, 
and  begged  them  to  give  him  the  finest  of  the  garments  which  they 
had  woven  with  their  own  hands  (because  among  the  ancients, 
women  of  every  rank  were  accustomed  to  occupy  themselves  in 
spinning  wool  and  weaving  cloth  to  make  garments  for  their  hus- 
bands and  children).  Theodoric  told  his  mother  he  meant  to  show 
that  she  had  given  birth  to  a  hero.3 

Saying  these  words,  he  departed  to  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  soldiers,  and  a  terrible  battle  ensued,  fiercely  contested  on 
both  sides.  There  was  one  moment  in  which  the  Ostrogoths,  on 
the  point  of  being  defeated,  withdrew  their  king  to  the  rear,  and 
were  just  about  to  seek  safety  in  their  own  quarters,  when  the 
mother  of  Theodoric,  going  to  meet  the  troops,  cried  out  loudly, 
"  Soldiers,  why  are  you  retreating?  If  you  fly,  what  other  escape 
remains?  Do  you  wish  the  enemy  to  say  that  the  soldiers  of 
Theodoric  have  disgraced  themselves  by  a  cowardly  panic?" 

These  words  inflamed  the  courage  of  the  fugitives,  who  rallied 
around  the  king,  resumed  the  fight,  and  achieved  a  complete  vic- 
tory. On  various  other  occasions  Odoacer  came  into  conflict  with 
the  enemy,  but  was  in  every  case  discomfited.  Notwithstanding 
this,  he  fortified  himself  in  the  city  of  Ravenna,  where  he  sustained 
a  long  siege  with  rare  valor.  Finally  he  was  constrained  to  capitu- 
late through  want  of  supplies,  but  only  on  condition  that  he  and 
Theodoric  should  reign  conjointly  in  Italy.  To  this  Theodoric  pre- 
tended to  agree;  but  in  a  few  days  after  he  perfidiously  slew 
3  Hodgkin,  "  Theodoric,"  p.  118. 


FIRST     KING     OF    ITALY  157 

493-525 

Odoacer  at  a  solemn  banquet,  together  with  all  his  sons  and 
retainers  (493). 

Theodoric  having  become  sole  king  of  Italy,  held  the  inhabi- 
tants at  first  in  a  wretched  state  of  oppression.  Nevertheless,  after 
a  time,  the  geniality  of  the  climate  and  the  remains  of  the  old 
Italian  civilization  had  the  effect  of  softening  down  his  barbarian 
nature,  so  that  he  began  to  occupy  himself  in  restoring  the  cities 
and  repairing  the  ravages  of  war  which  had  brought  such  misery 
upon  his  subjects.  He  conquered,  likewise,  several  of  the  countries 
bordering  upon  Italy,  and  drove  away  the  barbarous  hordes  which 
sought  to  invade  his  territory.4 

Agriculture,  commerce,  public  tranquillity,  now  reappeared  in 
that  country,  which  for  a  century  past  had  been  the  constant  theater 
of  horrible  invasions,  and  had  thus  been  denuded  of  a  great  portion 
of  its  inhabitants.  To  remedy  this  state  of  things,  Theodoric  sent 
to  Epiphanius,  Bishop  of  Pavia,  begging  him  to  recall  the  Romans 
who  remained  in  servitude  in  other  countries,  and  invite  all  Italian 
exiles  to  return. 

Theodoric  was  an  Arian  by  profession,  as  were  most  of  the 
Gothic  tribes  who  had  embraced  Christianity;  but  he  showed  re- 
spect both  to  the  Catholics  generally  and  to  the  Pope  of  Rome,  so 
that  throughout  the  whole  of  his  reign  the  Italians  lived  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  peace,  and  were  allowed  to  profess  their  religion 
without  hindrance.  In  addition  to  this,  he  commissioned  Pope  John 
I.  to  repair  to  Constantinople  to  demand  of  the  Emperor  Justin 
that  his  Arian  subjects  should,  in  their  turn,  be  free  to  profess  their 
religion  and  be  reinstated  in  their  churches,  threatening  that,  if 
this  were  not  done,  he  would  treat  the  Catholics  in  Italy  as  the 
Arians  were  treated  in  the  East.  He  sent  also  four  senators  to  ac- 
company the  Pope  on  this  mission.  As  they  approached  Constan- 
tinople the  whole  city  went  out  with  cross  and  banners  to  meet 
them.  Justin  himself,  kneeling  before  the  Pope,  did  him  the  honor 
due  to  the  Vicar  of  Christ.  Upon  this  the  Pope  explained  to  the 
emperor  the  intentions  of  Theodoric,  and  Justin  thereupon  prom- 
ised to  leave  the  Arians  in  peace,  and  on  taking  leave  presented 
the  Pope  with  rich  gifts  for  the  churches  of  Rome.  Pope  John  on 
his  return  to  Italy  repaired  to  Ravenna  to  give  to  Theodoric  a  nar- 

4  "  Theodoric  reigned  in  Italy  fully  in  accordance  with  the  traditions  of  the 
Empire.  He  himself  had  long  served  the  Court  of  Constantinople." — E.  F. 
Henderson,  "  A  History  of  Germany  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  25. 


158  ITALY 

526 

ration  of  his  journey  and  the  happy  results  which  it  had  obtained, 
but  Theodoric,  from  some  unknown  motive,5  threw  him  into  prison, 
where  he  soon  afterward  died. 

A  scholar  named  Boethius,  a  holy  man  devoted  to  letters,  to 
philosophy,  and  to  theology,  was  at  this  time  prominent  at  Theo- 
doric's  court.  Created  consul  by  Theodoric,  Boethius  had  always 
acted  loyally,  to  the  great  advantage  of  his  country;  but  now  being 
accused  of  carrying  on  secret  negotiations  with  Justin  in  favor  of 
Roman  liberty,  he  was  seized  by  Theodoric,  cast  into  prison,  and 
subsequently  executed.6  The  same  fate  overtook  his  brother-in- 
law,  who  was  also  invited  to  Ravenna,  and  treacherously  put  to 
death.  But  in  the  midst  of  these  unholy  transactions  the  career 
of  Theodoric  was  cut  short.  He  was  attacked  with  hemorrhage 
and  died  within  three  days.  Under  Theodoric,  Italy  had  been 
divided  into  two  distinct  peoples — the  Romans  and  the  Goths,  with 
practically  no  attempt  at  union.  By  his  rule  Italy  had  been 
"  blessed  with  a  generation  of  order  and  recovery.  .  .  . 
Although  Theodoric  himself  never  learned  to  read  or  write,  he 
encouraged  in  every  way  the  study  of  letters."7 

5  Probably  because  he  had  reason  to  dread  the  union  of  the  two  Catholic 
leaders,  and  was  suspicious  of  the  pretended  toleration  for  Arians. — Hodgkin, 
"  Theodoric,"  p.  284. 

6  The  treatise  of  Boethius,  entitled  "  Be  Consolatione,"  written  when  under 
sentence  of  banishment,  was  translated  from  the  Latin  into  Anglo-Saxon  by 
Alfred  the  Great,  and  subsequently  by  Chaucer  into  the  English  of  his  time. 

7  Emerton,  "  Introduction  to  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  55. 


Chapter    XXIV 

FALL    OF   THE    GOTHS.     526-568 

TIEODORIC,  before  his  death  (526),  appointed  his  grand- 
son Athalaric,  then  only  ten  years  old,  to  be  King  of  Italy, 
under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother,  Amalasontha,  who, 
being  a  woman  of  high  education  as  well  as  rank,  invoked  the  pro- 
tection of  the  emperor  at  Constantinople,  and  used  her  best  endeav- 
ors to  bring  up  her  son  wisely.  But  her  semi-barbarian  subjects, 
annoyed  at  seeing  the  young  prince  more  intent  upon  letters  than 
arms,  took  him  out  of  the  hands  of  his  mother,  and  associated  him 
with  a  number  of  bad  companions.  The  unhappy  Athalaric,  thus 
falling  a  prey  to  bad  counselors,  gave  himself  up  to  debauchery  and 
other  vices,  which  carried  him  to  the  grave  before  he  had  completed 
his  eighteenth  year. 

Amalasontha,  grieved  at  the  death  of  her  son,  and  at  the  same 
time  desirous  of  maintaining  her  own  authority  in  Italy,  married 
one  of  her  cousins  named  Theodatus,  and  raised  him  to  the  royal 
dignity.  But  Theodatus,  not  willing  to  share  the  supreme  power 
with  his  wife,  wickedly  compassed  her  death,  by  causing  her  to  be 
strangled  in  her  own  bath. 

Justinian  had  now  assumed  the  imperial  purple  at  Constan- 
tinople, and  pretended  to  regard  Amalasontha  as  his  friend  and 
ally.  Determining  therefore  to  punish  this  wicked  act,  he  sent  a 
renowned  general  named  Belisarius  into  Italy  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army  (536).  No  sooner  did  Belisarius  make  his  appear- 
ance in  that  country  than  many  of  the  cities  opened  their  gates  to 
him,  so  that  he  was  soon  enabled  to  reach  Rome  itself,  and  finally 
to  enter  it  peacefully  without  the  least  opposition. 

The  Goths,  perceiving  that  they  had  in  Theodatus  a  master- 
wholly  incapable  of  governing,  raised  a  favorite  captain  named 
Vitiges  to  the  royal  dignity,  and  put  Theodatus  to  death.  The  new 
chief  immediately  laid  siege  to  Rome,  from  which  Belisarius  had 
driven  him.  But  after  many  sanguinary  battles,  Vitiges,  despair- 
ing of  success  in  the  open  field,  betook  himself  to  Ravenna  and 

1.59 


160  ITALY 

540-541 

fortified  himself  there.  Belisarius  at  once  followed  him  up,  and 
laid  siege  to  the  city,  which  was  soon  obliged  by  hunger  to  capitu- 
late ;  and  Vitiges  himself  falling  into  an  ambush,  was  taken  prisoner 
by  Belisarius.  Upon  this  the  Goths,  desirous  of  having  a  capable 
man  as  commander,  offered  the  scepter  to  Belisarius  himself. 
Belisarius,  however,  would  not  betray  the  cause  of  his  sovereign, 
and  refused  the  offer,  assuring  them  that  he  would  govern  faith- 
fully in  the  name  of  the  emperor  (540).  But  soon  after  he  filled 
a  great  number  of  ships  with  the  spoils  of  Italy,  and  taking  Vitiges 
with  him  as  prisoner,  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  several  of 
the  most  noble  families  among  the  Goths,  he  returned  to  Constanti- 
nople to  lead  his  army  against  the  Persians. 

After  the  departure  of  Belisarius  the  Goths  combined  and 
elected  a  general  named  Hildebald  King  of  Italy,  who  was  put  to 
death  after  he  had  reigned  one  year.  To  him  succeeded  Heraricus, 
who  also  fell  a  victim  to  his  fellow-countrymen. 

The  only  person  who  now  proved  himself  capable  of  govern- 
ment was  Totila.  He  had  been  Duke  of  Friuli,  a  province  of 
Venetia,  situated  between  the  Alps  and  the  Adriatic,  and  had  already 
signalized  himself  by  many  feats  of  arms  under  the  reign  of  his 
uncle  Hildebald.  Totila  on  his  accession  in  541  showed  himself  at 
once  prudent  and  courageous — one  whom  no  dangers  deterred  from 
his  purposes.  The  victories  of  Belisarius  and  the  intestine  discords 
of  Italy  had  reduced  his  own  country  to  the  strip  of  land  enclosed 
between  the  Alps  and  the  Po.  Moreover,  he  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  degenerate  and  down-trodden  people,  so  that,  if  he  gained 
many  victories,  they  were  certainly  due  more  to  the  incapacity  of 
the  Grecian  generals  than  to  the  force  of  his  own  army.  But  as 
the  fame  of  his  valor  spread,  many  flocked  to  his  standard  and 
swelled  his  forces,  so  that  he  was  enabled  to  advance  even  into 
the  south  of  Italy,  and  occupy  Beneventum,  Cumse,  and  Naples. 
Though  termed  a  barbarian,  Totila  showed  great  humanity  and 
generosity  toward  the  Romans.  On  entering  Naples  he  distributed 
food  to  the  people,  who  were  dying  of  hunger,  owing  largely  to  the 
exactions  of  the  imperial  tax-collectors,  and  did  this  with  the 
tenderness  and  care  of  a  father  rather  than  the  ostentation  of  a 
conqueror.  He  even  supplied  the  enemy's  troops  with  money  and 
carriages,  so  that  they  might  depart  wherever  they  wished,  and 
sent  a  detachment  of  his  own  soldiers  to  accompany  them  until  they 
arrived  at  some  place  of  safety.     The  good  discipline  of  the  Goths 


FALL     OF     GOTHS  161 

541-553 

and  the  generosity  of  Totila  accordingly  soon  made  the  cities  of 
Italy  gladly  open  their  gates  to  him. 

At  the  news  of  these  victories,  the  Emperor  Justinian  again 
dispatched  Belisarius  into  Italy,  but  this  time  furnished  him  with 
so  little  money  and  so  few  soldiers  that  he  was  unable  to  prevent  the 
king  of  the  Goths  from  gaining  possession  of  the  whole  country, 
and  even  of  Rome  itself,  which  was  taken  and  retaken  several  times 
by  both  parties.  It  is  said  that  Totila  wished  to  throw  down  the 
walls  and  many  of  the  fine  edifices  of  that  superb  city,  so  that  the 
Greeks  should  not  have  the  means  of  fortifying  themselves  there 
against  him.  But,  on  Belisarius  entreating  that  the  monuments 
of  Rome's  ancient  glory  should  be  respected,  he  allowed  the  rever- 
ence due  to  those  ancient  memories  to  overrule  all  considerations  of 
self  interest.  But  fortune  now  favored  Totila  almost  everywhere, 
and  in  549  Belisarius  was  recalled  by  Justinian.  Ravenna  and 
Ancona  alone  were  left  to  the  imperialists. 

On  the  departure  of  Belisarius,  Totila  remained  tranquil  pos- 
sessor of  Italy,  and  was  able  even  to  extend  his  conquests  to  other 
countries.  He  placed  on  foot  a  powerful  army,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  Corsica,  Sardinia,  and  Sicily.  He  was  even  preparing  to 
pass  over  into  Greece,  when  the  emperor  determined  to  make  one 
further  attempt  to  retake  what  Belisarius  had  lost.  This  arduous 
attempt  was  confided  to  a  veteran  general  named  Narses,  who, 
though  well-nigh  eighty  years  of  age,  was  a  most  accomplished 
commander.  Well  furnished  with  money,  he  got  together  a  numer- 
ous army,  and  passing  along  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  entered 
Italy,  planning  to  meet  Totila  in  Tuscany,  at  the  foot  of  the  Apen- 
nines. Narses  sent  on  a  herald  to  Totila,  summoning  him  to  sur- 
render, and  offering  a  pardon  from  the  emperor.  Totila  replied 
that  he  would  accept  nothing  but  war,  and  was  prepared  to  con- 
quer or  die.  Upon  this,  the  herald  asked  him  what  day  he  would 
fix  for  the  fight.     The  eighth  day,  answered  Totila. 

On  the  appointed  day  they  met  for  battle,  and  the  Goths  were 
defeated  (553).  After  many  feats  of  valor  and  great  bloodshed 
on  both  sides,  Totila  himself  perished  with  the  flower  of  his  army. 
The  Goths  who  escaped  fell  back  upon  Pavia,  and  elected  Teias, 
the  most  valorous  of  their  generals,  to  be  king,  but  being  assailed 
by  Narses  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius,  near  Naples,  he  died  in  the 
heat  of  a  sanguinary  battle,  having  performed  prodigies  of  valor, 
and  Italy  was  once  again  a  province  of  the  Empire.     Notwithstand- 


162  ITALY 

553-567 

ing  the  death  of  their  king,  the  Goths  continued  to  fight  vigorously, 
so  that  the  battle  lasted  three  whole  days.  Finally,  having  retired 
and  called  a  council,  they  sent  a  message  to  Narses,  to  the  effect 
that  they  were  ready  to  lay  down  their  arms,  but  would  not  remain 
subject  to  the  Empire.  "  We  will  depart  from  Italy,"  they  said, 
"  and  go  to  live  with  our  other  countrymen.  Give  us  free  passage, 
and  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  allow  us  to  take  with  us  whatever 
money  we  have  in  our  houses."  Narses  hesitated  at  first,  but 
finally  consented;  and  thus  ended  the  monarchy  of  the  Goths  in 
Italy,  after  having  lasted  seventy-eight  years.  What  few  Goths 
remained  gradually  laid  aside  their  ferocious  habits,  and  became 
mingled  with  the  other  Italians.  While  war  was  raging  between 
the  Greeks  and  the  Goths,  the  Franks  advanced  to  assail  the  north- 
ern parts  of  Italy.  These  Franks  were  a  German  race  who  formerly 
inhabited  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  On  the  decay  of  the  Empire 
in  the  West  they  invaded  Gaul,  and  after  having  been  driven  off 
several  times,  succeeded  at  length  in  establishing  themselves  there 
in  the  year  451.  The  country  which  they  chose  for  their  habita- 
tion received  from  them  the  name  of  France,  instead  of  Gaul. 

The  Franks  now  attempted  to  make  themselves  masters  of 
Italy  also,  but  were  driven  back  by  Narses,  then  appointed  Exarch, 
or  governor-general,  having  Ravenna  for  his  capital.  Narses  by 
his  valor  preserved  peace  in  Italy  for  the  space  of  fourteen  years, 
beloved  by  the  good  and  feared  by  his  enemies.  After  having 
acquired  immense  riches,  he  died  in  567,  in  the  ninety-fifth  year 
of  his  age.  It  is  said  that  Sophia,  Empress  of  Constantinople, 
envious  of  his  glory,  recalled  him  to  the  court,  saying  that  an  old 
man  such  as  he  was  could  be  fit  for  nothing  but  to  spin  with  the 
women,  to  which  he  made  reply  that  he  could  weave  a  web  which 
she  would  not  so  easily  break  through,  meaning  that  he  would  invite 
the  Lombards  to  descend  into  Italy. 


Chapter    XXV 

THE   LOMBARDS— GREGORY   THE    GREAT.     568-744 

ON  the  death  of  Narses,  Italy  remained  well-nigh  without 
government,  so  that  various  tribes  sought  to  gain  pos- 
session of  it.  One  of  these  tribes  in  particular,  which 
dwelt  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  determined  to  invade  the  coun- 
try. They  were  called  Lombards,  and  gave  their  name  to  that 
portion  of  Italy  which  to  this  day  is  called  Lombardy.  These 
Lombards,  attracted  by  the  reports  made  by  adventurers  of  the  mild- 
ness of  the  climate  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil  of  Italy,  descended 
from  the  Alps  with  their  wives,  children,  old  people,  wagons,  oxen, 
and  flocks.  They  were  reported  to  be  the  most  valorous,  but  most 
cruel  of  all  the  barbarians.  Their  king  wras  a  ferocious  warrior 
named  Alboin.  He  made  his  appearance  on  the  Julian  Alps,  closed 
all  the  paths  into  Italy  on  the  eastern  side,  and  then  from  the 
heights  above  saluted  with  a  cry  of  joy  the  country  which  he 
intended  to  conquer.  Without  a  single  combat  he  took  possession 
of  the  whole  of  northern  Italy  in  568.  From  this  date  until  1870 
Italy  was  never  wholly  united  under  a  single  government.  Terror 
preceded  his  arms ;  the  population  fled  at  his  approach,  and,  in 
order  to  escape,  hid  themselves  in  the  forests  and  the  mountains, 
taking  with  them  everything  which  they  held  most  precious.  Pavia 
alone  ventured  to  oppose  a  long  and  vigorous  resistance  to  the  con- 
querors. The  intrepid  inhabitants,  expecting  succor  from  the 
Exarch  of  Ravenna,  for  three  years  repelled  the  assaults  of  the 
barbarians.  Alboin  hereupon  swore  that  he  would  not  spare  either 
man,  woman,  or  child,  and  that  all  who  had  not  already  perished 
by  hunger  should  be  exterminated  by  the  sword.  It  is  easy  to 
imagine  what  was  the  terror  of  the  inhabitants  when  they  saw 
themselves  forced  to  open  their  gates  to  the  conqueror.  No  one 
doubted  that  his  last  day  was  come.  The  Lombard  prince,  as 
the  legend  relates,  had  already  arrived  at  the  gate  of  the  city  when 
his  horse  suddenly  fell,  and  neither  spurs  nor  blows  could  prevail 
upon  it  to  rise.     At  the  same  time  a  voice  was  heard  to  say,  "  What 

163 


l(jl  ITALY 

568-573 

art  thou  doing?  Renounce  thy  oath.  Remember  that  this  is  a 
Christian  people.  Pardon  it,  and  pass  on."  This  unforeseen  acci- 
dent produced  a  happy  change  in  the  conqueror's  mind,  who,  con- 
fused and  alarmed,  calmed  his  fury  and  gave  a  full  pardon  to  the 
inhabitants  on  condition  that  they  would  subject  themselves  to  his 
dominion.  Having  now  again  mounted  his  horse  and  advanced 
to  the  magnificent  palace  of  Theodoric,  he  was  so  struck  by  its 
beauty  and  magnificence  that  he  chose  it  for  his  headquarters,  and 
declared  Pavia  the  capital  of  the  Lombard  kingdom. 

In  spite  of  all  the  moderation  he  now  showed,  we  are  not  to 
suppose  that  this  prince  became  in  reality  more  humane  than  he 
was  before ;  for  no  sooner  were  the  dangers  of  the  war  passed  than 
he  gave  himself  up  a  prey  to  the  most  brutal  passions.  Debauchery, 
a  vice  so  common  among  barbarous  people,  became  his  favorite  pas- 
time, and  in  the  end  was  the  cause  of  his  death.  The  Lombards 
in  their  own  country  adored  a  divinity  called  Odin,  and  believed 
that  the  reward  of  brave  warriors  in  Paradise  was  to  drink  the 
most  exquisite  liquors  from  the  skulls  of  their  enemies,  and  for 
this  reason,  when  they  were  assembled  at  any  great  festival,  they 
were  accustomed  to  make  use  of  these  horrible  vessels  whenever 
they  could  secure  them.  Alboin,  previous  to  his  descent  into  Italy, 
had  killed  the  king  of  the  Gepidi,  named  Cunimund,  and  had  then 
married  his  daughter  Rosamund.  It  now  happened  that  Alboin, 
having  given  a  great  banquet  to  his  captains  and  become  half-intoxi- 
cated, ordered  the  skull  of  Cunimund  to  be  brought  in,  and  filling 
it  with  the  best  wine,  amid  the  shouts  of  his  boon  companions,  had 
the  diabolical  idea  of  offering  it  to  Rosamund,  who  was  sitting  at 
the  same  table,  in  order,  as  he  said,  that  she  might  drink  to  her 
father's  health.  At  this  sight  and  proposal,  Rosamund  trembled, 
and  touching  the  horrible  vessel  with  her  lips,  said,  "  The  will  of 
the  king  be  done."  But  she  swore  to  herself  that  she  would  take 
terrible  vengeance  upon  him  for  the  insult. 

A  few  days  after  she  introduced  two  officers  into  the  king's 
apartments,  and  at  the  moment  when  he  was  lying  asleep  in  a 
drunken  fit,  caused  him  to  be  killed  with  a  hundred  wounds  (573). 

The  crime  did  not  long  remain  unpunished.  One  of  the  con- 
spirators had  his  eyes  put  out,  the  other  perished  by  poison.  The 
queen  herself  did  not  long  survive,  but  came  to  an  untimely  end 
through  the  odium  which  her  violent  conduct  had  brought  upon  her. 

On  the  death  of  Alboin,  the  Lombards  held  an  assembly  in 


T  HE     L  0  MBARDS  165 

573-587 

Pavia,  and  elected  one  of  the  most  illustrious  generals  of  the  army, 
named  Clepho,  to  be  king.  His  reign  lasted  only  two  years,  he 
being  treacherously  killed  by  one  of  his  own  courtesans.  After 
Clepho  there  was  an  interregnum  of  twelve  years,  in  which  period 
no  one  was  elected  to  the  supreme  power.  And  here  we  may  take 
the  opportunity  of  explaining  the  form  of  government  which  pre- 
vailed among  the  Lombards.  Whenever,  in  the  course  of  their 
conquests,  they  added  one  province  to  another,  they  intrusted  the 
government  of  each  province  to  a  duke,  who  had  the  administration 
of  all  affairs,  whether  civil  or  military.  Under  the  dukes  there  were 
appointed  "  sculdasci,"  or  rulers  of  hundreds,  each  of  whom  ruled 
over  a  district  with  the  same  kind  of  authority  as  the  dukes,  but  a 
district  less  extensive.  Under  the  rulers  of  hundreds  were  ap- 
pointed rulers  of  tens,  each  one  of  whom  presided  over  ten  families, 
while  every  single  family  had  also  its  own  head. 

Every  man  fit  to  bear  arms  was  obliged  to  serve  in  war,  and 
every  youth,  as  soon  as  he  was  decorated  with  arms,  became  head  of 
a  family  and  was  designated  by  the  title  Arimannus,  i.  e.,  capable  of 
arms.  The  whole  state  was  governed  by  a  king  and  a  general 
assembly.  At  the  death  of  the  king  they  elected  another,  who  led 
the  army,  presided  at  the  assembly,  proclaimed  the  laws,  and 
adjudged  all  cases  of  greater  moment.  The  assembly  had  the 
power  of  electing  kings,  of  approving  laws,  and  of  adjudging  grave 
cases.  It  was  composed  of  all  the  Arimanni,  who  came  together 
to  the  assembly  whenever  they  had  to  treat  of  affairs  of  great  im- 
portance. 

At  the  death  of  Clepho,  and  during  the  interregnum  of  twelve 
years,  every  duke  governed  his  own  province.  These  dukes  in- 
creased to  the  number  of  thirty-six,  and  divided  among  themselves 
all  the  possessions  of  the  crown.  This  states  of  things  caused  great 
evil  and  much  disorder  in  Italy,  because  everyone  wished  to  be 
independent,  and  no  one  knew  to  whom  he  should  have  recourse  in 
case  of  litigation.  At  length,  with  a  view  of  securing  internal 
peace  and  of  possessing  a  head  capable  of  defending  them  from  the 
Greeks, 'who  were  always  threatening  to  turn  them  out  of  Italy, 
the  dukes  united,  and  restoring  all  the  possessions  of  the  crown, 
elected  as  king  Autharis,  the  son  of  Clepho.  This  Autharis  was 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the  Lombard  kings,  whose  good  sense 
and  valor  succeeded  in  consolidating  the  tottering  monarchy,  and 
in  gaining  many  victories  over  its  enemies.    He  extended  the  bounds 


166  ITALY 

587-590 

of  the  kingdom,  and  when  he  had  advanced  with  his  army  as  far  as 
Reggio,  in  Calabria,  he  spurred  his  horse  to  a  rock  which  rose  up 
in  the  sea,  and  touching  it  with  his  spear,  exclaimed,  "  Thus  far 
shall  the  boundaries  of  the  Lombards  reach."  The  most  notable 
event  in  his  reign  was  his  marriage  with  Theodolinda,  daughter  of 
Garibaldus,  Duke  of  Bavaria. 

Autharis  desired  to  know  something  of  his  bride  before  the 
marriage.  Accordingly,  instead  of  sending  others  to  make  report, 
he  disguised  himself  and  accompanied  the  ambassador  who  was 
sent  to  ask  for  her  hand.  The  ambassador  on  his  arrival  explained 
the  motive  of  his  embassy  to  the  Duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  duke, 
who  had  already  heard  much  of  the  valor  of  the  King  of  Italy, 
readily  consented.  But  Autharis,  wishing  to  see  his  bride  before 
parting,  said  to  the  duke,  "  Allow  us  to  see  your  daughter  who  is 
to  be  our  queen,  because  I  have  received  a  special  commission  from 
the  king  to  give  him  full  information  respecting  her."  Garibaldus 
called  for  his  daughter,  whose  simplicity  and  charm  of  manner 
evinced  the  excellence  and  virtue  of  her  mind.  Autharis,  turning 
to  the  duke,  said :  "  Now  that  we  can  esteem  her  as  worthy  to  be 
a  queen,  let  us  receive  a  cup  of  wine  from  her  hands,  as  is  the  cus- 
tom among  ourselves."  The  duke  consented,  and  Theodolinda 
poured  out  the  wine  first  to  the  ambassador,  then  to  Autharis,  who 
scarcely  escaped  recognition,  because  his  youthful  age,  fine  stature, 
blond  hair,  and  elegant  bearing  raised  the  suspicion  that  he  must 
be  himself  the  King  of  Italy. 

Returning  to  his  kingdom,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  noble 
cortege  of  Bavarians  as  far  as  the  confines  of  the  Alps,  and  in  the 
act  of  taking  leave  he  struck  his  spear  into  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and 
exclaimed,  "  In  this  manner  strikes  Autharis,  King  of  the  Lom- 
bards." 

Theodolinda,  having  become  Queen  of  Lombardy,  took  a  great 
and  beneficent  part  in  the  affairs  of  Italy.  She  was  a  Catholic, 
while,  of  the  Lombards,  some  were  Arians  and  some  pagans; 
nevertheless,  before  three  years  had  passed,  she  gained  the  good 
opinion  of  all.  When,  therefore,  Autharis  died  in  Pavia  in  590, 
without  issue,  the  Lombards  proposed  that  she  should  choose  for 
her  husband  whomever  she  wished,  and  that  they  would  elect  him 
to  be  king.  She  chose  Agilulph,  Duke  of  Turin,  a  prince  much 
admired  for  his  valor  and  virtue,  and  a  relative  of  the  defunct 
sovereign. 


THE     LOMBARDS  167 

590-591 

When  the  virtuous  Theodolinda  decided  to  choose  Agilulph 
for  her  husband,  she  at  first  concealed  her  intention,  and  begging 
him  to  come  to  her  court,  went  from  Pavia  as  far  as  Lomillina  to 
meet  him.  After  having  given  him  a  courteous  reception,  she  sent 
for  a  drinking  cup,  and  when  she  had  drunk  herself,  handed  it  to 
him.  On  returning  the  glass,  he  kissed  her  hand,  as  was  usual 
among  the  Lombards.  To  this  Theodolinda  replied,  "  This  is  not 
the  kiss  that  I  should  expect  from  him  whom  I  destine  to  be  my 
husband  and  king.  The  Lombard  nation  concedes  to  me  the  right 
of  selecting  a  king,  and  invites  you  through  my  mouth  to  be  our 
ruler."  The  Lombards,  hereupon,  held  an  assembly  in  a  field  near 
Milan,  made  Agilulph  mount  upon  a  shield,  and  elevating  him  in 
the  sight  of  all  the  people,  proclaimed  him  King  of  Italy.  One 
thing  that  made  Agilulph's  exaltation  to  the  throne  remarkable, 
was  his  consecration  with  an  iron  crown,  the  story  of  which  is 
remarkable. 

In  the  year  327  a.  d.,  St.  Helena,  mother  of  the  Emperor 
Constantine,  is  said  to  have  discovered  upon  Mount  Calvary  the 
cross  and  the  nails  with  which  our  Saviour  was  crucified.  With 
two  of  these  nails  she  formed  a  crown  and  a  bridle,  and  sent  both 
as  a  gift  to  her  son. 

The  nail  which  had  served  to  form  the  bit  was  then  given  to 
St.  Ambrose  at  Milan,  where  it  was  always  after  venerated  as  a 
precious  relic.  The  crown  went  out  of  the  hands  of  Constantine 
into  those  of  the  Roman  pontiffs.  Gregory  the  Great  presented  it 
to  the  pious  Theodolinda,  and  she  presented  it  to  the  Basilica  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist  in  Monza.  This  diadem,  called  the  Iron 
Crown,  is  entirely  of  gold,  containing  within  it  only  a  very  thin 
plate  of  iron,  supposed  to  be  formed  from  the  sacred  nail.  The 
height  of  this  crown  is  five  centimeters,  the  breadth  fifteen  centi- 
meters. With  the  crown  of  iron  all  the  Lombard  kings  were 
crowned,  and  indeed  all  the  sovereigns  who  could  be  called  kings 
of  Italy.  It  is  now  preserved  at  Monza,  about  ten  miles  from 
Milan. 

Agilulph,  then,  was  the  first  to  be  consecrated  with  the  Iron 
Crown.  Another  historic  event  which  should  not  be  forgotten 
is,  that  Gregory  the  Great  was  raised  to  the  papal  dignity  on  the 
very  same  day  that  Agilulph  was  crowned  king  of  the  Lombards, 
and  from  that  date  the  bishops  of  Rome  took  the  title  of  Pope. 

The  Lombards,   as   we  said,   were  partly  Arians  and  partly 


168  ITALY 

591-712 

pagans,  and  Gregory,  grieved  at  hearing  of  the  persecutions  which 
the  Catholics  suffered  at  their  hands,  conceived  the  design  of  work- 
ing for  their  conversion.  He  went  in  person  to  the  court  of 
Agilulph,  and  succeeded,  in  connection  with  the  pious  Theodolinda, 
in  converting  him  to  the  Catholic  faith.  His  example  was  followed 
by  the  other  captains  of  the  army,  and  after  that  the  Lombards 
came  in  flocks  to  abjure  their  former  heresy  and  embrace  the  relig- 
ion of  the  Italians,  beginning  at  the  same  time  to  imitate  their  cus- 
toms and  modes  of  life. 

About  this  time  St.  Columbanus,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  and 
founder  of  a  new  order  of  monks,  after  having  labored  success- 
fully in  France,  passed  over  into  Italy.  Agilulph  received  him 
favorably  and  assigned  him  a  church  on  the  spot  where  the  city  of 
Bobbio  now  stands,  and  added  to  this  a  tract  of  land  five  miles  long 
and  five  broad.  There  the  saint  founded  a  monastery,  where  the 
monks  performed  works  of  piety  and  labored  to  reclaim  the  waste 
lands  in  the  valley  of  Trebbia.  A  short  time  before  his  death 
Agilulph  gathered  together  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  at  Milan,  and 
in  their  presence  had  his  son  Adelwald  crowned  successor  to  the 
throne. 

Agilulph  died  in  the  year  615.  But  Adelwald  soon  after  be- 
came insane,  and  Theodolinda  herself  rilled  the  throne  from  the 
death  of  Agilulph  until  625,  in  which  year  she  died  also,  to  the 
universal  grief  of  her  subjects.  Never  was  there  a  woman  who 
exercised  such  influence  over  the  affairs  of  Italy  as  Theodolinda. 
She  was  a  great  benefactor  to  her  subjects ;  through  her  influence 
the  Lombards  embraced  Christianity,  and  she  lived  a  life  of  piety 
and  devotion  to  the  last. 

On  the  death  of  Adelwald,  the  Lombards,  venerating  the 
name  of  Theodolinda,  proclaimed  her  son-in-law  Arivald  king  in 
625.  At  the  death  of  Arivald,  Rodwald  was  raised  to  the  throne. 
His  reign  was  celebrated  for  the  laws  he  promulgated  in  favor  of 
his  subjects.  He  made  a  digest  of  the  ancient  customs  of  the  Lom- 
bards, and  then  adding  others,  formed  a  code  of  edicts  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country.  To  Rodwald  succeeded  other  kings  not 
worthy  of  mention,  until  the  time  of  Liitprand,  who  began  his 
reign  in  the  year  712.  The  emperors  of  the  East  had  allowed  the 
affairs  of  Italy  to  fall  altogether  into  neglect.  The  more  they 
were  occupied  in  warring  against  the  Persians,  Saracens,  and  the 
other  enemies  of  the  Eastern  provinces,  the  less  attention  they  gave 


THE     LOMBARDS  169 

712-725 

to  the  affairs  of  the  West.  The  portion  of  Italy  which  continued 
to  acknowledge  their  authority  they  left  to  the  rule  of  prefects, 
and  often  when  a  prefect  died  they  neglected  to  appoint  another, 
so  that  the  Italians  began  to  form  the  habit  of  nominating  them  for 
themselves. 

In  consequence  of  the  neglect  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Lom- 
bards, it  happened  that  several  assumed  the  title  of  dukes,  altogether 
independently  of  the  province  which  they  governed,  and  some  of  the 
cities  withheld  their  obedience  from  any  external  authority  what- 
ever. Among  these  cities  we  must  enumerate  Rome,  for  although 
Rome  was  nominally  subject  to  a  Greek  governor,  yet  he  could  not 
vie  either  in  dignity,  riches,  or  power  with  the  chief  bishop.  Con- 
sequently, in  Rome,  the  Pope  stood  preeminent  by  means  of  his 
spiritual  dignity  and  in  consequence  of  the  continual  benefits  which 
he  was  the  means  of  conferring  upon  the  people.  He  had  defended 
them  on  various  occasions  from  the  barbarians,  and  caused  the  alms 
of  the  Christian  world  to  flow  to  that  center,  to  be  spent  in  works 
of  public  beneficence.  In  this  way  the  city  began  to  make  little 
account  of  the  Greek  emperor,  and  to  be  governed  much  rather 
according  to  the  will  of  the  Pope.  The  imperial  governor  had 
the  name,  but  the  Pope  had  the  reality  of  temporal  power. 

Lutprand  began  his  reign  by  adding  new  laws  to  the  Lombard 
code,  and  Gregory  began  his  pontificate  by  providing  for  the  security 
of  the  city  and  repairing  the  walls  at  his  own  expense. 

The  era  we  are  now  describing  is  celebrated  for  the  new  dis- 
sensions in  the  church  introduced  by  Leo  the  Isaurian,  Emperor  of 
the  East.  Leo,  making  himself  a  judge  in  matters  of  faith,  pub- 
lished an  edict  in  725,  in  which  he  ordered  that  thenceforth 
all  images  should  be  forbidden  in  the  churches.  On  this  account 
he  was  surnamed  Iconoclastes,  or  image-breaker.  To  this  edict 
Gregory  II.  was  opposed,  and  wrote  passionate  letters  about  it  to 
the  emperor.  But  the  emperor  replied  with  still  greater  vigor,  and 
threatened  to  depose  Gregory  from  the  papal  throne.  On  this 
Gregory  wrote  a  letter,  commanding  all  Christians  to  retain  their 
sacred  images,  and  to  oppose  themselves  to  the  "  impious  "  design 
of  the  sovereign.  Enraged  by  this  opposition,  the  emperor  sent 
men  to  Rome  charged  to  assassinate  the  Pope,  but  the  people,  hear- 
ing of  the  designs  against  his  life,  lent  their  assistance,  and  even 
killed  some  of  the  would-be  assassins.  Leo  the  emperor  becoming 
now  still  more  embittered,  ordered  the  few  imperial  soldiers  who 


170  ITALY 

725-744 

still  remained  in  Italy  to  proceed  to  Rome  and  arrest  the  Pope,  but 
the  people  of  Rome  and  the  other  provinces  armed  themselves  and 
put  the  imperialists  to  flight.  Exilaratus,  governor  of  Naples,  col- 
lected fresh  forces  and  marched  against  Rome,  but  the  people  dis- 
comfited them,  and  having  taken  Exilaratus  and  his  sons  prisoners, 
had  them  put  to  death,  and  then  drove  the  imperial  governor  from 
the  city. 

This  universal  hatred  against  the  Greeks  gave  opportunity  to 
Liitprand  to  assail  many  of  the  imperial  cities  and  many  of  the 
territories  dependent  on  the  emperor,  and  he  had  already  begun  to 
occupy  those  belonging  to  Rome,  when  Gregory  himself  took  them 
all  under  his  protection.  On  this  Liitprand  formally  made  them 
over  to  the  Pope,  so  that  they  might  never  fall  again  under  the 
imperial  dominion.  Leo,  perceiving  that  he  was  fast  losing  his 
power  in  Italy,  offered  Liitprand  many  of  the  castles  and  territories 
on  condition  that  ns  should  march  against  Rome  to  restore  the  im- 
perial dominion.  The  Lombard  king  was  just  about  to  enter  the 
city  when  Gregory  went  out  to  meet  him  and  showed  him  the  wrong 
he  was  committing.  Liitprand  was  so  moved  by  those  paternal 
admonitions  that  he  threw  himself  at  the  Pope's  feet  and  begged 
forgiveness.  After  this  he  entered  Rome  alone,  and  laid  his  royal 
cloak  and  other  precious  gifts  upon  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter. 

Soon  after  this  Gregory  II.  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Gregory 
III.,  who  in  a  council  of  ninety-three  bishops  excommunicated  the 
Iconoclasts.  But  soon  after  Leo  himself  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Constantine  Copronymus,  who  proved  still  more  of  an 
iconoclast  than  his  father.  At  his  instigation  Liitprand  marched 
once  more  against  Rome  and  the  lands  dependent  on  it.  Then  the 
Pope,  seeing  himself  assailed  by  the  Lombards  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  imperialists  on  the  other,  called  to  his  succor  Charles  Martel, 
King  of  the  Franks.  The  authority  of  Charles  Martel  induced  the 
Lombard  king  to  desist  from  his  enterprise,  and  just  at  this  junc- 
ture Liitprand  died. 


Chapter   XXVI 

RISE   OF   THE   TEMPORAL   POWER   OF   THE    POPES 

744-888 

IN  the  present  chapter  we  shall  first  give  a  brief  account  of  the 
rise  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Popes.  In  the  early  ages 
of  Christianity,  the  pastors  of  the  church  lived  upon  the  free- 
will offerings  of  the  people  to  whom  they  ministered.  The  office 
of  distributing  these  pecuniary  supplies  was  committed  to  faithful 
men  chosen  for  that  purpose,  and  named  deacons,  who  had  to 
minister  not  only  to  the  wants  of  the  clergy,  but  also  to  widows 
and  orphans,  and  to  the  poor  and  helpless  generally. 

After  the  conversion  of  Constantine  to  Christianity,  however, 
the  emperor  himself,  as  one  of  the  faithful,  provided  for  the  build- 
ing and  endowment  of  churches  out  of  the  funds  of  the  state.  But 
just  at  this  time  Constantine  changed  the  seat  of  government  from 
Rome  to  Byzantium,  so  that  the  former  ceased  any  longer  to  be 
the  seat  of  imperial  power ;  for  when  Theodosius  finally  divided  the 
Empire  into  the  East  and  the  West,  Milan  or  Ravenna  generally 
served  in  place  of  Rome  as  the  capital  of  the  western  division. 
After  that,  the  barbarian  hordes  overran  and  occupied  Italy,  but 
their  power  was  centered  sometimes  in  Ravenna,  sometimes  in 
Pavia;  so  that  from  Constantine  downward  the  emperors,  kings, 
or  princes  who  held  rule  in  Italy  only  visited  Rome  occasionally; 
and  thus  Rome  itself,  instead  of  being  the  seat  of  empire,  became 
simply  the  seat  of  the  chief  bishop  in  the  Wrest,  for  as  such  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  was  regarded,  owing  chiefly  to  the  vast  prestige 
of  the  ancient  capital.  But  notwithstanding  this,  the  Popes  did 
not  as  yet  possess  any  temporal  dominion.  They  exercised,  how- 
ever, a  moral  authority  over  the  faithful ;  and  this  was  soon  con- 
verted, as  we  shall  see,  into  a  temporal  power. 

Leo  the  Isaurian,  Emperor  of  the  East,  having  declared  war 
against  the  use  of  images,  sent  to  Pope  Gregory  II.  with  the  com- 
mand that  he  should  abolish  them  in  Rome,  and  banish  from  the 
churches  all  the  relics  of  the  martyrs.     This  command  Gregory 

171 


TO  ITALY 

744-753 

resolutely  refused  to  obey,  and  Leo,  persisting  in  his  order,  sent  to 
depose  the  Pope  and  despoil  the  churches  of  all  objectionable  and 
forbidden  objects.  The  Roman  people  on  this  took  part  with  the 
bishop,  and  repelled  the  imperial  forces.  Finally,  the  Senate,  in 
agreement  with  the  people,  declared  the  city  independent,  and  re- 
fused any  further  allegiance  to  one  whom  they  regarded  as  a  heretic 
and  a  persecutor.  Upon  this,  as  there  was  no  other  governing 
power  at  hand,  Rome  gave  itself  up  into  the  hands  of  the  pontiffs, 
hoping  thus  to  be  ruled  with  justice  and  liberality. 

Thus,  then,  Rome  was  detached  from  the  imperial,  and  placed 
directly  under  the  pontifical  power,  and  this  without  recourse  either 
to  subterfuge  or  to  arms.  The  events  which  immediately  led  to  this 
result  were  as  follows:  Gregory  III.,  Leo  the  Iconoclast,  and 
Charles  Martel  all  three  died  in  the  year  741,  and  Lutprand  in  the 
year  744.  It  was  just  previous  to  these  events  that  Charles  Martel 
began  to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  Italy,  and  concluded  a  treaty 
with  Lutprand  for  twenty  years.  The  Duke  of  Friuli,  Rachis  by 
name,  succeeded  the  latter  on  the  throne  of  Italy  Rachis  broke 
the  treaty  in  749,  and  threatened  new  vexations  in  Italy,  so  that 
Pope  Zacharias  had  to  reprove  him  for  the  injustice  of  his  pro- 
cedure, reminding  him,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  agreement  made 
with  his  predecessor.  The  king,  though  a  barbarian,  laid  aside 
his  anger,  and  afterward,  repenting  of  what  he  had  done,  re- 
nounced the  throne  and  became  a  monk.  His  successor,  Astolphus, 
was  an  ambitious  man,  capable  of  putting  schemes  in  action,  but 
not  able  to  carry  them  out.  He  also  broke  the  league  made  by  his 
predecessors,  marched  to  gain  possession  of  Ravenna,  and  even 
assailed  Rome  itself.  The  Roman  pontiff,  Stephen  II.,  went  out 
to  meet  him  at  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  begged  him  to  retire.  To 
this  the  king  assented,  and  entered  into  another  league,  which  was 
to  last  twenty  years.  But  notwithstanding  this,  Astolphus,  violating 
his  word,  soon  assailed  Rome  afresh,  and  placed  it  under  a  heavy 
tribute.  On  this  critical  occasion  the  Pope,  not  knowing  to  whom 
he  could  have  recourse,  ordered  public  prayers  and  general  fasts. 
He  himself,  with  naked  feet,  and  carrying  a  huge  cross  on  his 
shoulders,  went  in  procession  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  fol- 
lowed by  the  clergy  and  the  people,  weeping  and  spreading  ashes, 
and  carrying  before  them  on  a  cross  a  copy  of  the  broken  league. 
After  this  he  set  out  with  a  cortege  of  prelates  on  his  journey 
through  Italy,  traversed  the  Great  St.  Bernard,  and  betook  himself 


TEMPORAL     POWER     OF     POPES         173 

753-756 

to  the  court  of  France,  for  no  aid  could  be  secured  from  Constan- 
tinople. 

Pipin,  son  of  Charles  Martel,  had  now  succeeded  to  his  father 
in  the  government  of  France,  and  was  sojourning  in  the  country 
when  he  heard  that  the  Pope  had  arrived.  At  the  sight  of  the  chief 
pontiff  covered  with  ashes  and  haircloth,  humbly  begging  succor 
for  the  oppressed  Italians  Pipin  embraced  him,  and  promised  to 
send  efficient  help. 

In  754  Pipin  got  together  a  numerous  army,  and  marched 
toward  Italy,  the  frontier  of  which  reached  to  the  spot  where  the 
Sacra  di  San  Michele  now  stands.  Here  he  found  the  road  closed 
by  a  double  entrenchment  called  the  "  Chiuse,"  whence  the 
name  "  Chiusa  "  is  derived,  which  the  village  retains  to  this  day. 
On  the  one  side  were  the  Lombards,  who  stretched  themselves 
all  over  the  plain  of  Turin;  on  the  other  side  were  the  Franks, 
encamped  in  the  defile  which  leads  down  to  Susa.  King  Astolphus, 
confiding  in  his  own  courage,  hoped  to  assail  the  enemy  by  drawing 
them  away  from  their  entrenchments,  but  was  soon  driven  back ; 
so  that  the  Franks,  passing  the  Lombard  entrenchments,  pursued 
their  assailants  with  the  greatest  ardor,  and  compelled  them  to  retire 
upon  Pavia,  where  they  shut  themselves  in  together  with  their  king. 
Astolph,  reduced  to  great  straits,  sued  for  peace,  with  the  promise 
of  restoring  the  cities  taken  from  the  Pope,  and  of  making  good 
the  loss  which  his  subjects  had  received.  Pipin  consented  to  the 
proposals  of  Astolph,  and,  persuaded  of  his  sincerity,  led  his  army 
back  into  France.  But  Astolph  showed  himself  fit  only  to  ruin 
Italy  and  accomplish  the  fall  of  the  Lombard  throne.  He  soon 
disregarded  his  oath  and  violated  the  promises  made  to  the  King 
of  France.  Pipin  accordingly  marched  anew  upon  Italy,  and  sub- 
jected Astolph  to  hard  conditions,  one  of  which  was  to  disburse  a 
large  sum  of  money  as  a  recompense  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
Pipin  presented  to  the  Pope  the  lands  given  up  by  Astolph,  consist- 
ing largely  of  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and  thus  he  gave  a  more 
legal  basis,  though  on  a  smaller  scale  than  claimed  by  the  "  dona- 
tion of  Constantine,"  to  the  papal  states.  But  the  days  of  Astolph 
now  drew  to  an  end;  going  out  one  day  to  hunt,  he  fell  from  his 
horse,  from  which  fall  he  soon  after  died,  leaving  his  throne  tot- 
tering and  dishonored  (756). 

The  Lombards  elected  for  his  successor  a  renowned  captain 
named  Desiderius,  who  continued  to  molest  the  Pope,  as  well  as 


174  ITALY 

756-774 

all  the  other  princes  of  Italy  who  chose  to  be  independent  of  him. 
This  it  was  which  gave  occasion  to  the  son  of  Pipin,  named  Charle- 
magne, to  put  on  foot  two  large  armies,  and  march  into  Italy.  He 
sent  the  one  by  the  Great  St.  Bernard  and  the  other  by  the  usual 
road  over  Mont  Cenis.  On  arriving  at  a  spot  between  Monte  Cap- 
rario  and  Pirchiriano — now  termed  Sacra  di  San  Michele — he 
descried  King  Desiderius  and  his  son  with  an  army  drawn  up 
against  him,  and  defended  by  fortifications  raised  to  bar  the  way. 
There  a  battle  took  place,  hotly  contested  on  both  sides.  Adelchus, 
the  son  of  Desiderius,  with  a  club  in  his  hand,  went  on  horseback 
among  the  enemy,  and  made  a  terrible  slaughter.  It  is  even  said 
that  Charlemagne  wished  to  come  to  terms,  and  was  about  to  retire, 
when  happily  a  spot  was  pointed  out  to  him  which  had  been  left 
undefended  by  the  enemy.  In  this  way  Charlemagne  was  able  to 
take  the  Lombards  in  the  rear,  and  finally  put  them  to  flight.  Still 
they  rallied  once  again,  and  came  to  a  second  combat  near  Pavia, 
the  result  of  which  was  a  complete  victory  for  the  Franks.  It 
is  said  that  the  spot  where  the  battle  took  place  was  called  Mortara 
(that  is,  Mortisara),  from  the  great  butchery  which  there  took  place. 
Charlemagne  renewed  the  donation  of  Pipin,  though  he  himself 
was  thenceforth  the  ruler  of  Italy. 

The  fall  of  the  Lombards,  and  the  arrival  of  Charlemagne  in 
Italy,  is  one  of  the  most  important  epochs  in  history,  because  it 
gave  rise  to  the  restoration  of  the  empire  in  the  West.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  from  the  deposition  of  Augustulus  in  476,  Italy 
was  perpetually  the  victim  of  barbarous  nations,  who  thought  of 
nothing  else  than  to  make  it  their  prey.  While  one  portion  of  those 
barbarians  invaded  northern  Italy,  another  portion  spread  itself 
through  the  more  southern  parts  of  Europe,  so  that  those  countries 
which  had  formerly  been  portions  of  the  Roman  Empire  passed  one 
after  the  other  under  the  dominion  of  the  barbarian  tribes  which 
overran  it.  In  this  way  Italy  had  been  almost  wholly  occupied  by 
the  Lombards;  Gaul,  by  the  Franks;  Spain,  by  the  Visigoths  and 
Saracens — all  barbarous  nations,  but  brave  warriors,  who  endeav- 
ored to  found  settled  kingdoms  in  the  countries  which  they  con- 
quered. 

From  this  it  is  easy  to  understand  in  what  a  wretched  condi- 
tion the  whole  of  Europe  had  been  when  Charlemagne  gained  suffi- 
cient power  to  reestablish  order  in  all  these  different  countries. 
The  dangers  were  great,  such  as  might  have  terrified  any  prince 


TEMPORAL     POWER     OF     POPES         175 

744-800 

less  valorous  than  Charlemagne  himself.  This  great  man,  however, 
was  worthy  to  change  the  whole  aspect  of  the  world ;  and  his  long 
and  glorious  reign  is  certainly  the  most  remarkable  era  in  the  whole 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  since  from  it  took  their  origin  most  of  those 
very  states  of  which  Europe  now  mainly  consists. 

After  the  victories  gained  over  the  Lombards,  Charlemagne 
restored  to  the  Pope  all  the  cities  and  all  the  territories  of  which 
the  barbarians  had  robbed  him,  and  proceeding  to  Pavia,  took  the 
title  of  King  of  Lombardy  and  Italy,  placing  on  his  head  the  Iron 
Crown  which  had  been  used  to  consecrate  all  the  Lombard  kings 

(774). 

Charlemagne  made  many  changes  in  the  civil  government  of 
Italy,  abolished  many  of  the  dukedoms,  divided  them  into  districts, 
and  placed  over  them  counts,  to  whom  he  gave  power  to  govern 
them  with  the  same  authority  as  the  dukes  themselves.  These 
frontier  districts  were  made  by  Charlemagne  very  large  and  power- 
ful, so  as  to  serve  as  a  defense  to  the  country.  They  were  called 
marches,  and  the  counts  who  ruled  them  were  from  this  circum- 
stance called  marquises. 

While  Charlemagne  was  adding  well-nigh  the  whole  of  Italy 
to  his  kingdom,  and  was  intent  on  establishing  the  power  of  the 
Popes,  other  more  formidable  enemies,  the  Saxons,  drew  his  atten- 
tion to  the  north.  Charlemagne  marched  out  against  them,  in- 
flicting upon  them  many  a  defeat,  and  ended  at  length  by  subjecting 
them  all  to  his  power.  Finally,  they  accepted  Christianity  and  were 
baptized. 

The  good  fortune  which  had  followed  the  son  of  Pipin  in  his 
expeditions  against  the  Saxons  did  not  abandon  him  in  those  which 
he  carried  on  against  the  other  tribes  of  Germany,  all  of  whom  were 
finally  conquered  and  forced  to  submit  to  be  governed  according 
to  his  appointment.  The  Slavonic  inhabitants  of  Germany  also 
soon  succumbed  to  the  same  power,  and  were  obliged  to  do  homage 
to  Christianity,  and  to  respect  the  authority  of  Charlemagne. 

This  great  emperor,  having  arrived  at  an  advanced  age,  now- 
reached  the  apex  of  his  glory;  for  he  held  at  the  same  time  Ger- 
many, the  whole  of  Gaul,  a  part  of  Spain,  various  islands  in  the 
Mediterranean,  and  all  but  the  south  of  Italy  under  his  dominion. 
There  was  only  wanting  the  title  of  emperor — a  title  which  was 
regarded  at  that  time  as  superior  to  all  the  kings  of  the  earth,  so 
vivid  was  the  memory  of  the  Roman  emperors  who  had  governed 


176  ITALY 

800-814 

the  world.  But  this  glory  also  was  soon  destined  to  accrue  to 
the  name  of  Charlemagne.  Being  called  into  Italy  by  Pope  Leo  III., 
who  was  in  sore  straits  owing  to  the  rebellion  of  Rome,  he  re- 
sponded to  the  call,  and  proceeded  to  Rome.  It  was  Christmas  Day 
in  the  year  800.  The  Pope  himself  celebrated  mass,  and  Charle- 
magne was  present  with  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Pipin.  When 
the  sacred  function  was  finished,  the  Pope  turned  to  the  king,  and 
placed  the  imperial  crown  on  his  head,  crying  with  a  loud  voice : 
"  To  the  most  pious  Charles  Augustus,  crowned  by  God — great  and 
pacific  emperor — long  life  and  victory."  At  these  words,  the  people 
and  priests,  both  Romans  and  Franks,  who  filled  the  church  saluted 
him  with  the  title  of  emperor  amid  thunders  of  applause. 

The  coronation  of  Charlemagne  was  an  event  of  momentous 
and  far-reaching  import,  markedly  affecting  in  its  results  all  medi- 
eval history  and  altering  for  all  time  the  history  of  Italy  and  of 
Germany.  The  character  of  the  coronation,  whether  or  not  the 
crown  was  the  gift  of  the  Pope,  gave  rise  to  one  of  the  most  bitter 
elements  in  the  struggle  of  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy  which  filled 
the  Middle  Ages.  By  the  actors  in  the  scene  "  the  act  is  conceived 
of  as  directly  ordered  by  Divine  Providence."  * 

The  name  of  Charlemagne  was  now  known  and  venerated  in 
the  most  distant  countries.  Even  the  Greeks,  who  had  regarded  all 
the  people  of  Europe  as  barbarians,  had  to  speak  of  him  with 
respect,  and  the  Greek  empress  named  Irene  was  anxious  to 
form  an  alliance  with  him.  Even  the  barbarian  people  themselves 
— -the  Arabs  and  other  Asiatic  nations — vied  with  each  other  in 
showing  marks  of  esteem  and  veneration  for  the  new  Emperor  of 
the  West. 

Charlemagne,  having  arrived  at  the  height  of  his  glory,  died 
in  814  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  beloved  by  his 
subjects,  after  having  reigned  forty-seven  years  as  king,  and  four- 
teen as  emperor.  He  was  admirable  in  every  respect.  He  rewarded 
virtue  and  punished  vice  as  far  as  lay  in  his  power.  He  was  intrepid 
in  war  and  devout  in  religion.  In  the  most  dangerous  battles  he 
had  prayers  offered  up,  and  it  often  happened  that  the  chaplains 
of  the  army  spent  whole  nights  in  hearing  confession  from  the 
soldiers,  who  the  next  day  were  to  come  into  conflict  with  the 

1  See  Bryce,  "  Holy  Roman  Empire,"  ch.  v.,  where  the  various  theories  on 
the  suhject  are  discussed;  also  in  G.  B.  Adams'  "Medieval  Civilization,"  pp. 
104-166. 


TEMPORAL     POWER     OF     POPES  177 

800-814 

enemy.  He  was  simple  in  his  habits,  sober,  indefatigable;  during 
meals  he  had  some  ancient  history,  or  the  works  of  St.  Augustine, 
read  aloud.  He  took  every  means  to  revive  the  arts  and  sciences, 
and  promoted  civilization  and  virtue.  All  these  great  qualities 
procured  for  him  the  name  of  "  Great,"  which  has  been  maintained 
through  all  succeeding  ages  down  to  the  present  day. 

From  the  year  806  Charlemagne  began  to  feel  the  weight  of 
his  years  increase,  and  wished  to  provide  for  the  future  by  divid- 
ing his  vast  monarchy  among  his  sons.  To  the  eldest,  Charles, 
he  assigned  northern  France  and  well-nigh  the  whole  of  Germany. 
To  Louis,  the  youngest,  he  gave  southern  France,  his  dominions 
in  Spain,  and  the  Valley  of  Susa.  To  Pipin  he  left  Italy,  nearly 
the  whole  of  Bavaria,  and  a  portion  of  Germany.  Pipin,  however, 
died  in  809,  leaving  one  son,  Bernard,  who  succeeded  to  the  king- 
dom of  Italy.  The  next  year  Charles  also  died,  leaving  no  issue ; 
thus,  when  Charlemagne  died  in  814,  there  only  remained  of  his 
descendants  Louis  and  Bernard.  The  former  having  inherited  the 
portion  allotted  to  Charles,  remained  emperor  properly  so  called ; 
while  Bernard  still  continued  to  be  King  of  Italy,  but  only  as  a  vassal 
dependent  on  the  emperor  his  uncle. 

Italy  at  this  time  embraced  five  states,  viz. : 

1.  The  dominion  still  held  by  the  Greeks,  which  comprised 
Sardinia,  Sicily,  and  parts  of  Calabria. 

2.  The  States  of  the  Church,  a  somewhat  indefinite  tract  in 
Central  Italy,  radiating  from  Rome. 

3.  The  dukedom  of  Benevento,  which  corresponded  pretty 
nearly  with  the  modern  kingdom  of  Naples,  with  the  exception  of 
those  parts  held  by  the  Greeks. 

4.  The  remaining  part  of  the  peninsula,  which  formed  the 
kingdom  of  Italy  properly  so  called,  and  belonged  to  Bernard. 

5.  In  addition  to  this,  the  little  republic  of  Venice. 

The  city  of  Venice,  standing  upon  numerous  little  islands,  is 
situated  at  the  northwest  extremity  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  almost 
at  the  confluence  of  several  rivers.  It  was  first  inhabited  by  the 
Veneti,  who  gave  it  their  name;  by  and  by  a  great  number  of 
Italians  established  themselves  there,  desirous  of  thus  escaping  the 
ravages  of  the  barbarians  in  the  fifth  century.  After  476  it  remained 
nominally  a  possession  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  Pipin,  the  son 
of  Charlemagne,  while  King  of  Italy,  sought  to  get  possession  of 
Venice,  and  for  this  purpose  placed  a  large  army  on  foot,  both  by 


178  ITALY 

814-843 

land  and  sea.  But  after  having-  gained  several  victories,  he  suffered 
complete  defeat. 

The  Venetian  Republic,  increasing  steadily  in  power,  was  soon 
enabled  also  to  discomfit  the  Arabs  at  sea,  and  thus  maintain  its 
independence.  This  was  the  origin,  and  this  the  first  glory,  of  the 
Venetian  States. 

While  Bernard  was  reigning  in  Italy,  Louis,  called  the  Pious, 
called  together  a  diet  in  the  year  817,  and  declared  his  eldest  son 
Lothaire  emperor  and  colleague,  and  promised  him  the  succession 
to  Italy,  despite  Bernard's  rights.  He  also  sent  his  two  other  sons, 
Pipin  and  Louis,  the  one  into  Aquitaine,  the  other  into  Bavaria, 
as  kings  of  these  two  territories.  As  the  name  of  emperor  carried 
with  it  the  supremacy  both  in  command  and  jurisdiction,  Bernard 
took  this  arrangement  amiss,  and  contended  that  the  dignity  of 
emperor  should  fall  to  him,  as  being  son  of  the  second  born  of 
Charlemagne,  and  not  to  Louis  the  Pious,  son  of  the  third  born, 
still  less  to  Lothaire.  Impelled  by  this  ambitious  idea,  he  raised 
an  army  and  marched  against  his  rivals;  but  being  abandoned  by 
those  who  had  excited  him  to  revolt,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his 
uncle  Louis,  who  caused  his  eyes  to  be  put  out,  so  that  he  miserably 
perished.  For  this  act  Louis  afterward  suffered  the  most  lively 
remorse,  and  sought  to  expiate  it  by  fasting  and  prayer  (818). 

Lothaire  then  became  the  fourth  King  of  Italy  of  the  Frankish 
race.  Coming  next  in  succession  after  Charlemagne,  Pipin,  and 
Bernard,  and  being  the  elder  son  of  Louis,  he  received  the  title  of 
emperor,  while  the  other  two  brothers  were  merely  termed  kings. 
Lothaire,  imagining  himself  as  powerful  as  his  grandfather,  inas- 
much as  he  bore  the  same  title,  ordered  his  brothers  to  obey  him  as 
lord  paramount ;  but  they,  indignant  at  being  treated  thus  haughtily, 
raised  a  large  army,  and  declared  that  before  many  days  they  would 
appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God. 

To  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God  meant  in  those  days  to  have 
recourse  to  arms;  because  it  was  believed  that  in  battle  Providence 
would  give  the  victory  to  the  most  righteous  cause,  not  considering 
that  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things  the  victory  must  accrue  to  him 
who  has  the  largest  number  of  soldiers  and  the  most  highly  disci- 
plined army. 

In  this  case  it  is  certain  Providence  favored  the  brothers  of 
Lothaire,  because  after  a  sanguinary  battle  the  emperor  was  com- 
pletely discomfited.     After  this,  Lothaire  thought  it  best  to  leave 


TEMPORAL     POWER     OF     POPES  179 

843-888 

his  brothers  undisturbed,  and  made  a  treaty  with  them,  which  is 
known  in  history  under  the  title  of  the  Treaty  of  Verdun,  signed 
in  the  year  843. 

In  828,  while  Lothaire  was  still  reigning,  some  African  tribes, 
under  the  name  of  Saracens,  came  into  Italy  and  committed  great 
devastations.  Since  Mohammed  had  propagated  his  faith  these 
Saracens  had  spread  themselves  over  various  parts  of  the  world, 
and  had  overrun  Africa,  with  the  countries  bordering  on  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  Passing  over  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  they  took 
possession  of  Spain,  and  occupied  even  a  part  of  France,  and  in 
all  probability  would  have  overrun  the  whole  of  Europe  had  not 
Charles  Martel  defeated  them,  and  forced  them  to  return  into  Spain. 
Still  they  found  means  of  penetrating  into  Italy,  and  attacked 
Sicily,  which  was  held  by  the  Eastern  Empire. 

In  time  they  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  whole  of 
Sicily.  Being  summoned  by  the  Duke  of  Benevento  to  return  to 
their  own  country,  they  paid  no  attention  to  him,  but  taking  arms, 
carried  devastation  and  slaughter  even  to  the  walls  of  Rome,  a 
Saracen  fleet  sailing  up  the  Tiber. 

The  pontiff,  fearing  that  these  barbarians  would  come  to  sack 
the  basilicas  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  had  the  suburb  termed  the 
Vatican  surrounded  by  a  wall,  in  order  the  better  to  insure  its  safety. 
This  new  quarter,  thus  surrounded,  served  as  a  powerful  defense 
against  the  barbarians,  and  was  attached  to  old  Rome  under  the 
name  of  the  Leonine  City — so  called  from  Pope  Leo  IV.,  who 
founded  it. 

To  Lothaire  succeeded  two  of  his  own  relations,  first  Leo  and 
then  Charles,  surnamed  the  Bald.  To  them  succeeded  Carlomann, 
and  then  another  Charles,  called  the  Fat.  Charles  the  Fat  was  the 
last  King  of  Italy  of  the  Carlovingian  race ;  but  his  character  was 
more  adapted  to  ruin  than  to  govern  the  kingdom,  so  that  people 
and  princes  alike  revolted,  and  deposed  him  in  the  year  888.  Thus 
finished  the  dominion  of  the  Franks  in  Italy,  having  lasted  115 
years  from  the  time  that  Charlemagne  rescued  it  from  the  hands  of 
the  barbarians. 


Chapter   XXVII 

THE    FOUNDATION    OF    THE    HOLY    ROMAN    EMPIRE 

962-1152 

A  T  the  death  of  Charles  the  Fat  in  888  that  part  of  Italy  which 
ZJk  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Western  Empire  was 
JL  JL  divided,  like  France  and  Germany,  among  a  few  powerful 
vassals,  hereditary  governors  of  provinces.  The  principal  of  these 
were  the  dukes  of  Spoleto  and  Tuscany,  the  marquises  of  Ivrea, 
Susa,  and  Friuli.  The  great  Lombard  duchy  of  Benevento, 
which  had  stood  against  the  arms  of  Charlemagne,  and  comprised 
more  than  half  the  present  kingdom  of  Naples,  had  now  fallen 
into  decay,  and  was  straitened  by  the  Greeks  in  Apulia,  and 
by  the  principalities  of  Capua  and  Salerno,  which  had  been  sev- 
ered from  its  own  territory,  on  the  opposite  coast.  Though 
princes  of  the  Carlovingian  line  continued  to  reign  in  France, 
their  character  was  too  little  distinguished  to  challenge  the  obedi- 
ence of  Italy,  already  separated  by  family  partitions  from  the 
Transalpine  nations;  and  the  only  contest  was  among  her  native 
chiefs.  One  of  these,  Berenger,  originally  Marquis  of  Friuli,  or  the 
march  of  Treviso,  reigned  for  thirty-six  years,  but  with  con- 
tinually disputed  pretensions;  and  after  his  death  the  calamities 
of  Italy  were  sometimes  aggravated  by  tyranny,  and  sometimes 
by  intestine  war.1  The  history  of  Italy,  after  888,  soon  begins 
to  be  the  history  of  several  states,  not  of  one  country,  as  in  Eng- 
land or  France.  This  phenomenon  is  explained  by  the  reasons 
given  by  Adams  :2 

"  In  Italy,  as  in  Germany,  the  nation  was  able  to  form  no  gov- 
ernment. In  both  cases  .  .  .  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was 
at  fault.  In  Italy  it  was  a  foreign  power  which  prevented  the  rise 
of  any  native  state  to  a  sufficient  strength  to  absorb  the  whole 
peninsula.     To  the  influence  of  the  Empire  must  be  added  that  of 

1  Berenger,   being  grandson    by  a   daughter    of   Louis   the    Pious,   may  be 
reckoned  of  the  Carlovingian  family. 

2  Adams,  '*  Medieval  Civilization,"  p.  360. 

180 


HOLY     ROMAN     EMPIRE  181 

962 

the  Papacy  as  an  equally  responsible  cause — as  the  one  most  respon- 
sible in  the  last  centuries  of  the  Middle  Ages,  after  the  Empire  had 
practically  disappeared;  and  in  modern  times  the  position  of  the 
Pope,  as  sovereign  of  a  little  state  in  Central  Italy,  had  forced  him, 
as  a  matter  of  self-defense,  to  use  all  possible  means  to  prevent  the 
rise  of  any  threatening  power  in  Italy,  from  the  days  of  the  Lom- 
bards down     ...     to  Victor  Emmanuel." 

The  Hungarians  desolated  Lombardy ;  the  southern  coasts  were 
infested  by  the  Saracens,  now  masters  of  Sicily.  Plunged  in  an 
abyss  from  which  she  saw  no  other  means  of  extricating  herself, 
Italy  lost  sight  of  her  favorite  independence,  and  called  in  the 
assistance  of  Otho  I.,  King  of  Germany.  Little  opposition  was 
made  to  this  powerful  monarch.  Berenger  II.,  the  reigning  sov- 
ereign of  Italy,  submitted  to  hold  the  kingdom  of  him  as  a  fief. 
But  some  years  afterward,  new  disturbances  arising,  Otho  de- 
scended from  the  Alps  a  second  time,  deposed  Berenger,  and  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  Pope  John  XII.  the  imperial  dignity,  which 
had  been  suspended  for  nearly  forty  years  (962). 

The  restored  Empire  from  this  date  until  its  final  extinction 
in  1806  bore  the  title  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  From  this  time 
forth  we  see  in  full  play  the  two  famous  medieval  theories — of  the 
divine,  universal  empire,  commissioned  to  rule  in  things  temporal ; 
and  of  the  divine,  universal  church,  commissioned  to  rule  in  things 
spiritual.  In  theory,  absolute  harmony  should  prevail  between 
these  two;  in  fact,  the  struggle  between  them  continued  until  the 
growth  of  modern  nations  and  the  Protestant  revolution  shattered 
the  one  theory  and  limited  the  application  of  the  other.3 

Every  ancient  prejudice,  every  recollection,  whether  of  Augus- 
tus or  of  Charlemagne,  had  led  the  Italians  to  annex  the  notion 
of  sovereignty  to  the  name  of  Roman  emperor ;  nor  were  Otho  or 
his  two  immediate  descendants  by  an)'  means  inclined  to  waive 
these  supposed  prerogatives,  which  they  were  well  able  to  enforce. 
Most  of  the  Lombard  princes  acquiesced  without  apparent  repug- 
nance in  the  new  German  government,  which  was  conducted  by 
Otho  the  Great  with  much  prudence  and  vigor,  and  occasionally 
with  severity.  The  citizens  of  Lombardy  were  still  better  satisfied 
with  a  change  that  insured  a  more  tranquil  and  regular  administra- 
tion than  they  had  experienced  under  the  preceding  kings.     But 

3  See  Bryce,  "  Holy  Roman  Empire/'  ch.  vii. ;  Emerton,  "  Medieval  Europe," 
chs.  iv.,  v. 


182  ITALY 

962-963 

in  one,  and  that  the  chief  of  Italian  cities,  very  different  sentiments 
were  prevalent.  We  find,  indeed,  a  considerable  obscurity  spread 
over  the  internal  history  of  Rome  during  the  long  period  from  the 
recovery  of  Italy  by  Belisarius  to  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century. 
The  Popes  appear  to  have  possessed  some  measure  of  temporal 
power,  even  while  the  city  was  professedly  governed  by  the  exarchs 
of  Ravenna,  in  the  name  of  the  Eastern  Empire.  This  power  became 
more  extensive  after  her  separation  from  Constantinople.  It  was, 
however,  subordinate  to  the  undeniable  sovereignty  of  the  new  im- 
perial family,  who  were  supposed  to  enter  upon  all  the  rights  of 
their  predecessors.  There  was  always  an  imperial  officer  or  pre- 
fect, in  that  city,  to  render  criminal  justice;  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  emperor  was  taken  by  the  people ;  and  upon  any  irregular 
election  of  a  Pope,  a  circumstance  by  no  means  unusual,  the  em- 
perors held  themselves  entitled  to  interpose.  But  the  institutions 
of  the  Romans  were  republican.  Amid  the  darkness  of  the  tenth 
century,  which  no  contemporary  historian  dissipates,  we  faintly 
distinguish  the  awful  names  of  Senate,  consuls,  and  tribunes,  the 
domestic  magistracy  of  Rome.  These  shadows  of  past  glory  strike 
us  at  first  with  surprise ;  yet  there  is  no  improbability  in  the  suppo- 
sition that  a  city  so  renowned  and  populous,  and  so  happily  sheltered 
from  the  usurpation  of  the  Lombards,  might  have  preserved,  or 
might  afterward  establish,  a  kind  of  municipal  government,  which 
it  would  be  natural  to  dignify  with  those  august  titles  of  antiquity. 
During  that  anarchy  which  ensued  upon  the  fall  of  the  Carlovin- 
gian  dynasty,  the  Romans  acquired  an  independence  which  they 
did  not  deserve.  The  city  became  a  prey  to  the  most  terrible  dis- 
orders; the  papal  chair  was  sought  for  at  best  by  bribery  or  con- 
trolling influence,  often  by  violence  or  assassination ;  it  was  filled 
by  such  men  as  naturally  rise  by  such  means,  whose  sway  was  pre- 
carious, and  generally  ended  either  in  their  murder  or  degradation. 
For  many  years  the  supreme  pontiffs  were  forced  upon  the  church 
by  two  women  of  high  rank  but  infamous  reputation,  Theodora 
and  her  daughter  Marozia.  The  kings  of  Italy,  whose  election  in 
a  diet  of  Lombard  princes  and  bishops  at  Roncaglia  was  not  con- 
ceived to  convey  any  pretension  to  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  could 
never  obtain  any  decided  influence  in  papal  elections,  which  were 
the  object  of  struggling  factions  among  the  resident  nobility.  In 
this  temper  of  the  Romans,  they  were  ill  disposed  to  resume  habits 
of  obedience  to  a  foreign  sovereign.     The  next  year  after  Otho's 


HOLY     ROMAN     EMPIRE  183 

963-1024 

coronation  they  rebelled,  the  Pope  at  their  head  (963),  but  were, 
of  course,  subdued  without  difficulty.  The  same  republican  spirit 
broke  out  whenever  the  emperors  were  absent  in  Germany,  espe- 
cially during  the  minority  of  Otho  III.,  and  directed  itself  against 
the  temporal  superiority  of  the  Pope.  But  when  that  emperor 
attained  manhood,  he  besieged  and  took  the  city,  crushing  all  resist- 
ance by  measures  of  severity;  and  especially  by  the  execution  of 
Crescentius,  a  leader  of  the  popular  faction,  to  whose  instigation 
the  tumultuous  license  of  Rome  was  principally  ascribed. 

At  the  death  of  Otho  III.  without  children,  in  1002,  the  com- 
pact between  Italy  and  the  emperors  of  the  house  of  Saxony  was 
determined.  Her  engagement  of  fidelity  was  certainly  not  applica- 
ble to  every  sovereign  whom  the  princes  of  Germany  might  raise 
to  their  throne.  Accordingly,  Ardoin,  Marquis  of  Ivrea,  was 
elected  King  of  Italy.  But  a  German  party  existed  among  the  Lom- 
bard princes  and  bishops,  to  which  his  insolent  demeanor  soon  gave 
a  pretext  for  inviting  Henry  II.,  the  new  King  of  Germany,  collat- 
erally related  to  their  late  sovereign.  Ardoin  was  deserted  by  most 
of  the  Italians,  but  retained  his  former  subjects  in  Piedmont,  and 
disputed  the  crown  for  many  years  with  Henry,  who  passed  very 
little  time  in  Italy.  During  this  period  there  was  hardly  any  recog- 
nized government ;  and  the  Lombards  became  more  and  more  accus- 
tomed, through  necessity,  to  protect  themselves,  and  to  provide  for 
their  own  internal  police.  Meanwhile  the  German  nation  had  be- 
come odious  to  the  Italians.  The  rude  soldiery,  insolent  and  ad- 
dicted to  intoxication,  were  engaged  in  frequent  disputes  with 
the  citizens,  wherein  the  latter,  as  is  usual  in  similar  cases,  were 
exposed  first  to  the  summary  vengeance  of  the  troops,  and  after- 
ward to  penal  chastisement  for  sedition.  In  one  of  these  tumults, 
at  the  entry  of  Henry  II.,  in  1004,  the  city  of  Pavia  was  burned  to 
the  ground,  which  inspired  its  inhabitants  with  a  constant  animosity 
against  the  emperor.  Upon  his  death  in  1024,  the  Italians  were 
disposed  to  break  once  more  their  connection  with  Germany,  which 
had  elected  as  sovereign  Conrad,  Duke  of  Franconia.  They  offered 
their  crown  to  Robert,  King  of  France,  and  to  William,  Duke  of 
Guienne;  but  neither  of  them  was  imprudent  enough  to  involve 
himself  in  the  difficult  and  faithless  politics  of  Italy.  Eribert,  Arch- 
bishop of  Milan,  accompanied  by  some  other  chief  men  of  Lom- 
bardy,  repaired  to  Constance,  and  tendered  the  crown  to  Conrad, 
which  he  was  already  disposed  to  claim  as  a  sort  of  dependency 


184  ITALY 

1024-1057 

upon  Germany  (1024).  It  does  not  appear  that  either  Conrad 
or  his  successors  were  ever  regularly  elected  to  reign  over  Italy; 
but  whether  this  ceremony  took  place  or  not,  we  may  certainly  date 
from  that  time  the  subjection  of  Italy  to  the  Germanic  body. 

It  became  an  unquestionable  maxim  that  the  votes  of  a  few 
German  princes  conferred  a  right  to  the  sovereignty  of  a  country 
which  had  never  been  conquered,  and  which  had  never  formally 
recognized  this  superiority.  But  it  was  an  equally  fundamental 
rule  that  the  elected  King  of  Germany  could  not  assume  the  title 
of  Roman  emperor  until  his  coronation  by  the  Pope.  The  middle 
appellation  of  King  of  the  Romans  was  invented  as  a  sort  of  ap- 
proximation to  the  imperial  dignity.  It  was  not  till  the  reign 
of  Maximilian  that  the  actual  coronation  at  Rome  was  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  title  of  emperor  taken  immediately  after  the 
election. 

The  period  between  Conrad  of  Franconia  and  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,  or  from  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  to  that  of  the 
twelfth  century,  is  marked  by  three  great  events  in  Italian  history; 
the  struggle  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy  for  ecclesiastical 
investitures,  the  establishment  of  the  Norman  kingdom  in  Naples, 
and  the  formation  of  distinct  and  nearly  independent  republics 
among  the  cities  of  Lombardy.  The  first  of  these  cannot  be 
treated  here  except  most  briefly,  for  its  belongs  more  properly  in  a 
history  of  the  Papacy.  But  it  produced  a  long  and  almost  inces- 
sant state  of  disturbance  in  Italy,  and  should  be  mentioned  at 
present  as  one  of  the  main  causes  which  excited  in  that  country  a 
systematic  opposition  to  the  imperial  authority. 

The  southern  provinces  of  Italy,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  were  chiefly  subject  to  the  Greek  Empire,  which 
had  latterly  recovered  part  of  its  losses.  They  were  governed  by  a 
lieutenant,  styled  Catapan,4  who  resided  at  Bari,  in  Apulia.  On 
the  Mediterranean  coast  three  duchies,  or  rather  republics,  of  Naples, 
Gaeta,  and  Amalfi,  had  for  several  ages  preserved  their  connection 
with  the  Greek  Empire,  and  acknowledged  its  nominal  sovereignty. 
The  Lombard  principalities  of  Benevento,  Salerno,  and  Capua  had 
much  declined  from  their  ancient  splendor.  The  Greeks  were,  how- 
ever, not  likely  to  attempt  any  further  conquests:  The  court  of 
Constantinople  had  more  urgent  interests  in  the  East,  owing  to  the 

4  Catapanus,    from  xard  rav,  one    employed    in  general    administration    of 
affairs. 


HOLY     ROMAN     EMPIRE  185 

1057-1127 

rising  power  of  the  Turks.  No  momentous  revolution,  apparently, 
threatened  the  south  of  Italy,  and  least  of  all  could  it  be  anticipated 
from  what  quarter  the  storm  was  about  to  gather. 

The  followers  of  Rollo,  who  rested  from  plunder  and  piracy 
in  the  quiet  possession  of  Normandy,  became  devout  professors  of 
the  Christian  faith,  and  particularly  addicted  to  the  custom  of  pil- 
grimage, which  gratified  their  curiosity  and  spirit  of  adventure. 
In  small  bodies,  well  armed  on  account  of  the  lawless  character  of 
the  countries  through  which  they  passed,  the  Norman  pilgrims  vis- 
ited the  shrines  of  Italy  and  even  the  Holy  Land.  Some  of  these, 
very  early  in  the  eleventh  century,  were  engaged  by  a  Lombard 
prince  of  Salerno  against  the  Saracens,  who  had  invaded  his  terri- 
tory, and  through  that  superiority  of  valor,  and  perhaps  of  corporal 
strength,  which  this  singular  people  seem  to  have  possessed  above 
all  other  Europeans,  they  made  surprising  havoc  among  the  enemy. 
This  exploit  led  to  fresh  engagements,  and  these  engagements  drew 
new  adventurers  from  Normandy;  they  founded  the  little  city  of 
Aversa,  near  Capua,  and  were  employed  by  the  Greeks  against  the 
Saracens  of  Sicily.  But,  though  performing  splendid  services  in 
this  war,  they  were  ill  repaid  by  their  ungrateful  employers,  and 
being  by  no  means  of  a  temper  to  bear  with  injury,  they  revenged 
themselves  by  a  sudden  invasion  of  Apulia.  This  province  was 
speedily  subdued  and  divided  among  twelve  Norman  counts,  but 
soon  afterward  Robert  Guiscard,  one  of  twelve  brothers,  many  of 
whom  were  renowned  in  these  Italian  wars,  acquired  the  sov- 
ereignty, and,  adding  Calabria  to  his  conquests,  put  an  end  to  the 
long  dominion  of  the  Eastern  emperors  in  Italy.  He  reduced  the 
principalities  of  Salerno  and  Benevento,  in  the  latter  instance  shar- 
ing the  spoil  with  the  Pope,  who  took  the  city  to  himself,  while 
Robert  retained  the  territory.  His  conquests  in  Greece,  which  he 
invaded  with  the  magnificent  design  of  overthrowing  the  Eastern 
Empire,  were  not  very  extensive.  Roger,  his  younger  brother, 
undertook,  meanwhile,  the  romantic  enterprise  of  conquering  the 
island  of  Sicily  with  a  small  body  of  Norman  volunteers.  But  the 
Saracens  were  broken  into  petty  states  and  discouraged  by  the  bad 
success  of  their  brethren  in  Spain  and  Sardinia.  After  many  years 
of  war  Roger  became  sole  master  of  Sicily,  and  took  the  title  of 
count.  The  son  of  this  prince,  upon  the  extinction  of  Robert 
Guiscard's  posterity,  united  the  two  Norman  sovereignties,  and, 
subjugating  the  free  republics  of  Naples  and  Amalfi,  and  the  prin- 


18(>  ITALY 

1127-1139 

cipality  of  Capua,  established  a  boundary  which  has  hardly  been 
changed  since  his  time  (1127). 

The  first  successes  of  these  Norman  leaders  were  viewed  un- 
favorably by  the  Popes.  Leo  IX.  marched  in  person  against  Robert 
Guiscard  with  an  army  of  German  mercenaries,  but  was  beaten  and 
made  prisoner  in  this  unwise  enterprise,  the  scandal  of  which  noth- 
ing but  good-fortune  could  have  lightened.  He  fell,  however,  into 
the  hands  of  a  devout  people,  who  implored  his  absolution  for  the 
crime  of  defending  themselves;  and,  whether  through  gratitude 
or  as  the  price  of  his  liberation,  invested  them  with  their  recent  con- 
quests in  Apulia,  as  fiefs  of  the  Holy  See.  This  investiture  was 
repeated  and  enlarged  as  the  Popes,  especially  in  their  contention 
with  Henry  IV.  and  Henry  V.,  found  the  advantage  of  using  the 
Normans  as  faithful  auxiliaries.  Finally,  Innocent  II.,  in  1139, 
conferred  upon  Roger  the  title  of  King  of  Sicily.  It  is  difficult 
to  understand  by  what  authority  these  countries  could  be  claimed  by 
the  See  of  Rome  in  sovereignty,  unless  by  virtue  of  the  disputed 
donation  of  Constantine,  and  least  of  all  how  Innocent  II.  could 
surrender  the  liberties  of  the  city  of  Naples,  whether  that  was  con- 
sidered as  an  independent  republic  or  as  a  portion  of  the  Greek 
Empire.  But  the  Normans,  who  had  no  title  but  their  swords,  were 
naturally  glad  to  give  an  appearance  of  legitimacy  to  their  con- 
quest, and  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  even  in  the  hands  of  the  most 
powerful  princes  in  Europe,  never  ceased  to  pay  a  feudal  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 

The  revolutions  which  time  brought  forth  on  the  opposite  side 
of  Italy  were  still  more  interesting.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the 
time  at  which  the  cities  of  Lombardy  began  to  assume  a  republican 
form  of  government,  or  to  trace  with  precision  the  gradations  of 
their  progress.  These  cities  were  far  more  populous  and  better 
defended  than  those  of  France;  they  had  learned  to  stand  sieges 
in  the  Hungarian  invasions  of  the  tenth  century,  and  had  acquired 
the  right  of  protecting  themselves  by  strong  fortifications.  Those 
which  had  been  placed  under  the  temporal  government  of  their 
bishops  had  peculiar  advantages  in  struggling  for  emancipation. 
This  circumstance  in  the  state  of  Lombardy  was  highly  important 
toward  explaining  the  subsequent  revolution.  Notwithstanding 
several  exceptions  an  ecclesiastic  was  less  likely  to  be  bold  and  active 
in  command  than  a  soldier,  and  the  sort  of  election  which  was  always 
necessary,  and  sometimes  more  than  nominal,  on  a  vacancy  of  the 


HOLY     ROMAN     EMPIRE  187 

1002-1139 

See,  kept  up  among  the  citizens  a  notion  that  the  authority  of  their 
bishop  and  chief  magistrate  emanated  in  some  degree  from  them- 
selves. In  many  instances,  especially  in  the  Church  of  Milan,  the 
earliest,  perhaps,  and  certainly  the  most  famous  of  Lombard  repub- 
lics, there  occurred  a  disputed  election ;  two,  or  even  three,  com- 
petitors claimed  the  archiepiscopal  functions,  and  were  compelled, 
in  the  absence  of  the  emperors,  to  obtain  the  exercise  of  them  by 
means  of  their  own  faction  among  the  citizens. 

These  were  the  general  causes  which,  operating  at  various 
times  during  the  eleventh  century,  seem  gradually  to  have  produced 
a  republican  form  of  government  in  the  Italian  cities.  But  this 
part  of  history  is  very  obscure.  We  perceive,  however,  throughout 
the  eleventh  century,  that  the  cities  were  continually  in  warfare  with 
each  other.  This,  indeed,  was  according  to  the  manners  of  that 
age,  and  no  inference  can  absolutely  be  drawn  from  it  as  to  their 
internal  freedom.  But  it  is  observable  that  their  chronicles  speak, 
in  recording  these  transactions,  of  the  people,  and  not  of  their 
leaders,  which  is  the  true  republican  tone  of  history.  Thus,  in 
the  Annals  of  Pisa,  we  read,  under  the  years  1002  and  1004,  of  vic- 
tories gained  by  the  Pisans  over  the  people  of  Lucca;  in  1006,  that 
the  Pisans  and  Genoese  conquered  Sardinia.  These  annals,  indeed, 
are  not  by  a  contemporary  writer,  nor  perhaps  of  much  authority. 
But  we  have  an  original  account  of  a  war  that  broke  out  in  1057, 
between  Pavia  and  Milan,  in  which  the  citizens  are  said  to  have 
raised  armies,  made  alliances,  hired  foreign  troops,  and  in  every 
respect  acted  like  independent  states.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  power 
left  in  the  Empire  to  control  them.  The  two  Plenrys  IV.  and  V. 
were  so  much  embarrassed  during  the  quarrel  concerning  investi- 
tures, and  the  continual  troubles  of  Germany,  that  they  were  less 
likely  to  interfere  with  the  rising  freedom  of  the  Italian  cities  than 
to  purchase  their  assistance  by  large  concessions.  Henry  IV. 
granted  a  charter  to  Pisa,  in  108 1,  full  of  the  most  important  privi- 
leges, promising  even  not  to  name  any  marquis  of  Tuscany  with- 
out the  people's  consent,  and  it  is  possible  that  although  the  instru- 
ments have  perished,  other  places  might  obtain  similar  advantages. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  before  the  death  of  Henry 
V.,  in  1 125,  almost  all  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  many  among 
those  of  Tuscany,  were  accustomed  to  elect  their  own  magistrates 
and  to  act  as  independent  communities  in  waging  war  and  in  domes- 
tic government. 


188  ITALY 

1139-1152 

The  territory  subjected  originally  to  the  count  or  bishop  of 
these  cities  had  been  reduced  by  numerous  concessions  to  the  rural 
nobility.  But  the  new  republics,  deeming  themselves  entitled  to 
all  which  their  former  governors  had  once  possessed,  began  to 
attack  their  nearest  neighbors,  and  to  recover  the  sovereignty  of 
all  their  ancient  territory.  They  besieged  the  castles  of  the  rural 
counts,  and  successively  reduced  them  into  subjection.  They  sup- 
pressed some  minor  communities,  which  had  been  formed  in  imita- 
tion of  themselves  by  little  towns  belonging  to  their  district.  Some- 
times they  purchased  feudal  superiorities  or  territorial  jurisdictions, 
and,  according  to  a  policy  not  unusual  with  the  stronger  party, 
converted  the  rights  of  property  into  those  of  government.  Hence, 
at  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  we  are  assured  by  a  contem- 
porary writer  that  hardly  any  nobleman  could  be  found,  except  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat,  who  had  not  submitted  to  some  city.  We 
may  except  also,  I  should  presume,  the  families  of  Este  and  Malas- 
pina,  as  well  as  that  of  Savoy.  Muratori  produces  many  charters 
of  mutual  compact  between  the  nobles  and  the  neighboring  cities, 
whereof  one  invariable  article  is  that  the  former  should  reside 
within  the  walls  a  certain  number  of  months  in  the  year.  The 
rural  nobility,  thus  deprived  of  the  independence  which  had  en- 
deared their  castles,  imbibed  a  new  ambition  of  directing  the  munici- 
pal government  of  the  cities,  which  consequently,  during  this  period 
of  the  republics,  fell  chiefly  into  the  hands  of  the  superior  families. 
It  was  the  sagacious  policy  of  the  Lombards  to  invite  settlers  by 
throwing  open  to  them  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  sometimes 
they  even  bestowed  them  by  compulsion.  Sometimes  a  city,  imita- 
ting the  wisdom  of  ancient  Rome,  granted  these  privileges  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  another.  Thus  the  principal  cities,  and  especially 
Milan,  reached,  before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  a  degree 
of  population  very  far  beyond  that  of  the  capitals  of  the  great 
kingdoms.  Within  their  strong  walls  and  deep  trenches,  and  in 
the  midst  of  their  well-peopled  streets,  the  industrious  dwelt  secure 
from  the  license  of  armed  pillagers  and  the  oppressions  of  feudal 
tyrants.  Artisans,  whom  the  military  landholders  contemned,  ac- 
quired and  deserved  the  right  of  bearing  arms  for  their  own  and 
the  public  defense.  Their  occupations  became  liberal,  because  they 
were  the  foundation  of  their  political  franchises;  the  citizens  were 
classed  in  companies  according  to  their  respective  crafts,  each  of 
whicfi  had  its  tribune  or  standard-bearer  (gonfalonier),  at  whose 


HOLY     ROMAN     EMPIRE 


189 


1111-1152 

command,   when   any  tumult  or  enemy  threatened,   they   rushed 
in  arms  to  muster  in  the  market-place. 

But,  unhappily,  we  cannot  extend  the  sympathy  which  institu- 
tions so  full  of  liberty  create  to  the  national  conduct  of  these  little 
republics.  The  love  of  freedom  was  alloyed  by  that  restless  spirit, 
from  which  a  democracy  is  seldom  exempt,  of  tyrannizing  over 
weaker  neighbors.  They  played  over  again  the  tragedy  of  ancient 
Greece,  with  all  its  circumstances  of  inveterate  hatred,  unjust  ambi- 


tion, and  atrocious  retaliation,  though  with  less  consummate  actors 
upon  the  scene.  Among  all  the  Lombard  cities,  Milan  was  the 
most  conspicuous,  as  well  for  power  and  population  as  for  the  abuse 
of  these  resources  by  arbitrary  and  ambitious  conduct.  Thus,  in 
III  I,  they  razed  the  town  of  Lodi  to  the  ground,  distributing  the 
inhabitants  among  six  villages,  and  subjecting  them  to  an  unrelent- 
ing despotism.  Thus,  in  1 1 18,  they  commenced  a  war  of  ten  years' 
duration  with  the  little  city  of  Como;  but  the  surprising  persever- 
ance of  its  inhabitants  procured  for  them  better  terms  of  capitula- 
tion, though  they  lost  their  original  independence.  The  Cremonese 
treated  so  harshly  the  town  of  Crema  that  it  revolted  from  them  and 
put  itself  under  the  protection  of  Milan.     Cities  of  equal  forces 


190  I  T  A  L  Y 

1152 

carried  on  interminable  hostilities  by  wasting  each  other's  territory, 
destroying  the  harvests,  and  burning  the  villages. 

The  sovereignty  of  the  emperors,  meanwhile,  though  not  very 
effective,  was,  in  theory,  always  admitted.  Their  name  was  used 
in  public  acts  and  appeared  upon  the  coin.  When  they  came  into 
Italy  they  had  certain  customary  supplies  of  provisions,  called  fod- 
rum  regale,  at  the  expense  of  the  city  where  they  resided ;  during 
their  presence  all  inferior  magistracies  were  suspended  and  the  right 
of  jurisdiction  devolved  upon  them  alone.  But  such  was  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  Lombards  that  they  built  the  royal  palaces  outside  their 
gates,  a  precaution  to  which  the  emperors  were  compelled  to  sub- 
mit. This  was  at  a  very  early  time  a  subject  of  contention  between 
the  inhabitants  of  Pavia  and  Conrad  II.,  whose  palace,  seated  in 
the  heart  of  the  city,  they  had  demolished  in  a  sedition,  and  were 
unwilling  to  rebuild  in  that  situation. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Italy  when  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
Duke  of  Suabia,  and  nephew  of  the  last  emperor,  Conrad  III., 
ascended  the  throne  of  Germany  (1152).  His  accession  forms  the 
commencement  of  a  new  period,  the  duration  of  which  is  about  one 
hundred  years,  and  which  is  terminated  by  the  death  of  Conrad  IV., 
the  last  emperor  of  the  house  of  Suabia.  It  is  characterized,  like 
the  former,  by  three  distinguishing  features  in  Italian  history:  the 
victorious  struggle  of  the  Lombard  and  other  cities  for  independ- 
ence, the  final  establishment  of  a  temporal  sovereignty  over  the  mid- 
dle provinces  by  the  Pope,  and  the  union  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
to  the  dominions  of  the  house  of  Suabia.  The  Hohenstaufen 
realized  the  hopelessness  of  trying  to  form  a  strong  central  govern- 
ment in  Germany,  but  at  the  same  time  believed  that  they  could 
make  effective  their  claims  to  lordship  in  Italy,  which  had  for  long 
been  somewhat  dormant.  The  problem  of  the  Hohenstaufen  "  was 
to  assert,  over  against  this  communal  spirit,  the  right  of  the  Empire 
as  such,  and  to  enforce  this  right,  not  merely  with  the  sword, 
.  .  .  but  also  with  every  weapon  of  legal  argument  which  the 
new  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Roman  law  could  furnish  them."  G 
B  Emerton,  "  Medieval  Europe,"  p.  274. 


Chapter    XXVIII 

FREDERICK   BARBAROSSA.     1152-1189 

IN  Frederick  Barbarossa  the  Italians  found  a  very  different  sov- 
ereign from  the  two  last  emperors,  Lothaire  and  Conrad  III., 
who  had  seldom  appeared  in  Italy,  and  with  forces  quite  inade- 
quate to  control  such  insubordinate  subjects.  The  distinguished  valor 
and  ability  of  this  prince  rendered  a  severe  and  arbitrary  temper, 
and  a  haughty  conceit  of  his  imperial  rights,  more  formidable.  He 
believed  that,  as  successor  of  Augustus,  he  inherited  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world.  In  the  same  right,  he  more  powerfully,  if  not  more 
rationally,  laid  claim  to  the  entire  prerogatives  of  the  Roman  em- 
perors over  their  own  subjects;  and  in  this  the  professors  of  the 
civil  law — which  was  now  diligently  studied — lent  him  their  aid 
with  the  utmost  servility.  To  such  a  disposition  the  self-govern- 
ment of  the  Lombard  cities  appeared  mere  rebellion.  "  In  Italy 
the  existence  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  together  with  the  policy 
which  the  Popes  adopted  in  defense  of  their  political  independence, 
prevented  the  formation  of  any  native  national  government  while 
the  Empire  furnished  the  pretense  of  one.  In  consequence  of  this, 
the  cities,  when  they  became  strong,  found  themselves  depending 
upon  a  shadowy  state  whose  sovereignty  they  recognized  in  form, 
but  which  was  not  at  hand  to  exercise  real  and  direct  government. 
As  a  result,  the  cities  in  Italy  found  it  easy  to  become  little  inde- 
pendent states.  .  .  .  Their  early  and  rapid  growth  enabled 
them  to  absorb  nearly  all  the  nobles  of  the  country,  and  they 
entrenched  themselves  so  strongly  that  when  the  Hohenstaufen  em- 
perors attempted  to  bring  them  under  a  direct  control,  they  were 
able,  in  combination,  ...  to  maintain  and  secure  their  inde- 
pendence." 1 

Milan  especially,  the  most  renowned  of  them  all,  drew  down 
upon  herself  Frederick's  inveterate  resentment.  He  found  only 
too  good  a  pretense  in  her  behavior  toward  Lodi.  Two  natives 
of  that  ruined  city  threw  themselves  at  the  emperor's  feet,  implor- 

1  Adams,    "  Medieval    Civilization,"    p.    301. 
191 


192  ITALY 

1152-1158 

ing  him,  as  the  ultimate  source  of  justice,  to  redress  the  wrongs  of 
their  country.  It  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  terror  inspired  by  Milan 
that  the  consuls  of  Lodi  disavowed  the  complaints  of  their  country- 
men, and  the  inhabitants  trembled  at  the  danger  of  provoking  a 
summary  vengeance,  against  which  the  imperial  arms  seemed  no 
protection.  The  Milanese,  however,  abstained  from  attacking  the 
people  of  Lodi,  though  they  treated  with  contempt  the  emperor's 
order  to  leave  them  at  liberty.  Frederick,  meanwhile,  came  into 
Italy  and  held  a  diet  at  Roncaglia,  where  complaints  poured  in 
from  many  quarters  against  the  Milanese.  Pavia  and  Cremona, 
their  ancient  enemies,  were  impatient  to  renew  hostilities  under  the 
imperial  auspices.  Brescia,  Tortona,  and  Crema  were  allies,  or 
rather  dependents,  of  Milan.  Frederick  soon  took  occasion  to 
attack  the  latter  confederacy.  Tortona  was  compelled  to  surrender, 
and  leveled  to  the  ground.  But  a  feudal  army  was  soon  dissolved ; 
the  emperor  had  much  to  demand  his  attention  at  Rome,  where  he 
was  on  ill  terms  with  Adrian  IV.,  and  when  the  imperial  troops 
were  withdrawn  from  Lombardy,  the  Milanese  rebuilt  Tortona 
and  expelled  the  citizens  of  Lodi  from  their  dwellings.  Frederick 
assembled  a  fresh  army,  to  which  almost  every  city  of  Lombardy, 
willingly  or  by  force,  contributed  its  militia.  It  is  said  to  have 
exceeded  a  hundred  thousand  men.  The  Milanese  shut  themselves 
up  within  their  walls,  and  perhaps  might  have  defied  the  imperial 
forces,  if  their  immense  population,  which  gave  them  confidence  in 
arms,  had  not  exposed  them  to  a  different  enemy.  Milan  was 
obliged  by  hunger  to  capitulate  upon  conditions  not  very  severe,  if 
a  vanquished  people  could  ever  safely  rely  upon  the  convention  that 
testifies  their  submission. 

Frederick,  after  the  surrender  of  Milan,  held  a  diet  at  Ron- 
caglia, where  the  effect  of  his  victories  was  fatally  perceived  ( 1 158). 
The  bishops,  the  higher  nobility,  the  lawyers,  vied  with  one  another 
in  exalting  his  prerogatives.  He  defined  the  regalian  rights,  as 
they  were  called,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  exclude  the  cities  and 
private  proprietors  from  coining  money,  and  from  tolls  or  territorial 
dues,  which  they  had  for  many  years  possessed.  These,  however, 
he  permitted  them  to  retain  for  a  pecuniary  stipulation.  A  more 
important  innovation  was  the  appointment  of  magistrates,  with  the 
title  of  podesta,  to  administer  justice  concurrently  with  the  consuls ; 
but  he  soon  proceeded  to  abolish  the  latter  office  in  many  cities,  and 
to  throw  the  whole  government  into  the  hands  of  his  own  magis- 


FREDERICK     BARBAROSSA  193 

1158-1162 

trates.  He  prohibited  the  cities  from  levying  war  against  each 
other.  It  may  be  presumed  that  he  showed  no  favor  to  Milan. 
The  capitulation  was  set  at  naught  in  its  most  express  provisions; 
a  podesta  was  sent  to  supersede  the  consuls  and  part  of  the  territory 
taken  away.  Whatever  might  be  the  risk  of  resistance,  and  the 
Milanese  had  experienced  enough  not  to  undervalue  it,  they  were 
determined  rather  to  see  their  liberties  at  once  overthrown  than  grad- 
ually destroyed  by  a  faithless  tyrant.  They  availed  themselves  of 
the  absence  of  his  army  to  renew  the  war.  Its  issue  was  more 
calamitous  than  that  of  the  last.  Almost  all  Lombardy  lay  patient 
under  subjection.  The  small  town  of  Crema,  always  the  faithful 
ally  of  Milan,  stood  a  memorable  siege  against  the  imperial  army; 
but  the  inhabitants  were  ultimately  compelled  to  capitulate  for  their 
lives,  and  the  vindictive  Cremonese  razed  their  dwellings  to  the 
ground.  But  all  smaller  calamities  were  forgotten  when  the  great 
city  of  Milan,  worn  out  by  famine  rather  than  subdued  by  force, 
was  reduced  to  surrender  at  discretion.  Lombardy  stood  in  anxious 
suspense  to  know  the  determination  of  Frederick  respecting  this 
ancient  metropolis,  the  seat  of  the  early  Christian  emperors,  and 
second  only  to  Rome  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  Latin  church.  A  delay 
of  three  weeks  excited  fallacious  hopes,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time 
an  order  was  given  to  the  Milanese  to  evacuate  their  habitations. 
The  deserted  streets  were  instantly  occupied  by  the  imperial  army ; 
the  people  of  Pavia  and  Cremona,  of  Lodi  and  Como,  were  com- 
missioned to  revenge  themselves  on  the  respective  quarters  of  the 
city  assigned  to  them,  and  in  a  few  days  the  pillaged  churches  stood 
alone  amid  the  ruins  of  what  had  been  Milan  (1162). 

There  was  now  little  left  of  that  freedom  to  which  Lombardy 
has  aspired:  it  was  gone  like  a  pleasant  dream,  and  she  awoke  to 
the  fears  and  miseries  of  servitude.  Frederick  obeyed  the  dictates 
of  his  vindictive  temper  and  of  the  policy  usual  among  statesmen. 
He  abrogated  the  consular  regimen  in  some  even  of  the  cities  which 
had  supported  him,  and  established  his  podesta  in  their  place.  This 
magistrate  was  always  a  stranger,  frequently  not  even  an  Italian, 
and  he  came  to  his  office  with  all  those  prejudices  against  the  people 
he  was  to  govern  which  cut  off  every  hope  of  justice  and  humanity. 
The  citizens  of  Lombardy,  especially  the  Milanese,  who  had  been 
dispersed  in  the  villages  adjoining  their  ruined  capital,  were  unable 
to  meet  the  perpetual  demands  of  tribute.  In  some  parts,  it  is 
said,  two-thirds  of  the  produce  of  their  lands,  the  only  wealth  that 


194  ITALY 

1162-1168 

remained,  were  extorted  from  them  by  the  imperial  officers.  It  was 
in  vain  that  they,  prostrated  themselves  at  the  feet  of  Frederick. 
He  gave  at  the  best  only  vague  promises  of  redress;  they  were  in 
his  eyes,  rebels;  his  delegates  had  acted  as  faithful  officers,  whom, 
even  if  they  had  gone  a  little  beyond  his  intentions  he  could  not  be 
expected  to  punish. 

But  there  still  remained  at  the  heart  of  Lombardy  the  strong 
principle  of  national  liberty,  imperishable  among  the  perishing 
armies  of  her  patriots,  inconsumable  in  the  conflagration  of  her 
cities.  Those  whom  private  animosities  had  led  to  assist  the  Ger- 
man conqueror  blushed  at  the  degradation  of  their  country,  and  at 
the  share  they  had  taken  in  it.  A  league  was  secretly  formed,  in 
which  Cremona,  one  of  the  chief  cities  on  the  imperial  side,  took 
a  prominent  part.  Those  beyond  the  Adige,  hitherto  not  much 
engaged  in  the  disputes  of  Central  Lombardy,  had  already  formed 
a  separate  confederacy,  to  secure  themselves  from  encroachments 
which  appeared  the  more  unjust,  as  they  had  never  borne  arms 
against  the  emperor.  Their  first  successes  corresponded  to  the 
justice  of  their  cause;  Frederick  was  repulsed  from  the  territory 
of  Verona — a  fortunate  augury  for  the  rest  of  Lombardy  (1164). 
These  two  clusters  of  cities  on  the  east  and  west  of  the  Adige  now 
united  themselves  into  the  famous  Lombard  league,  the  terms  of 
which  were  settled  in  a  general  diet.  Their  alliance  was  to  last 
twenty  years,  during  which  they  pledged  themselves  to  mutual 
assistance  against  anyone  who  should  exact  more  from  them  than 
they  had  been  used  to  perform  from  the  time  of  Henry  to  the  first 
coming  of  Frederick  into  Italy;  implying  in  this  the  recovery  of 
their  elective  magistracies,  their  rights  of  war  and  peace,  and  those 
lucrative  privileges  which,  under  the  name  of  regalian,  had  been 
wrested  from  them  in  the  diet  of  Roncaglia. 

This  union  of  the  Lombard  cities  was  formed  at  a  very  favor- 
able juncture.  Frederick  had,  almost  ever  since  his  accession,  been 
engaged  in  open  hostility  with  the  See  of  Rome,  and  was  pursuing 
the  fruitless  policy  of  Henry  IV.,  who  had  endeavored  to  substitute 
an  anti-pope  of  his  own  faction  for  the  legitimate  pontiff.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  scheme  he  had  besieged  Rome  with  a  great 
army,  which,  the  citizens  resisting  longer  than  he  expected,  fell 
a  prey  to  the  autumnal  pestilence  which  visits  the  neighborhood  of 
that  capital.  The  flower  of  German  nobility  was  cut  off  by  this 
calamity,  and  the  emperor  recrossed  the  Alps,  entirely  unable  for 


FREDERICK     BARBAROSSA  195 

1168-1183 

the  present  to  withstand  the  Lombard  confederacy.  Their  first 
overt  act  of  insurrection  was  the  rebuilding  of  Milan ;  the  confed- 
erate troops  all  joined  in  this  undertaking;  and  the  Milanese,  still 
numerous,  though  dispersed  and  persecuted,  revived  as  a  powerful 
republic.  Lodi  was  compelled  to  enter  into  the  league ;  Pavia  alone 
continued  on  the  imperial  side.  As  a  check  to  Pavia  and  to  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat,  the  most  potent  of  the  independent  nobility, 
the  Lombards  planned  the  erection  of  a  new  city  between  the 
confines  of  these  two  enemies  in  a  rich  plain  to  the  south  of  the  Po, 
and  bestowed  upon  it,  in  compliment  to  the  Pope,  Alexander  III., 
the  name  of  Alessandria.  Though,  from  its  hasty  construction, 
Alessandria  was  even  in  that  age  deemed  rude  in  appearance,  it 
rapidly  became  a  thriving  and  populous  city.  The  intrinsic  energy 
and  resources  of  Lombardy  were  now  made  manifest.  Frederick, 
who  had  triumphed  by  their  disunion,  was  unequal  to  contend 
against  their  league.  After  several  years  of  indecisive  war,  the 
emperor  invaded  the  Milanese  territory;  but  the  confederates  gave 
him  battle,  and  gained  a  complete  victory  at  Legnano  in  1176. 
Frederick  escaped  alone  and  disguised  from  the  field,  with  little  hope 
of  raising  a  fresh  army,  though  still  reluctant,  from  shame,  to 
acquiesce  in  the  freedom  of  Lombardy.  He  was  at  length  persuaded, 
through  the  mediation  of  the  republic  of  Venice,  to  consent  to  a  truce 
of  six  years,  the  provisional  terms  of  which  were  all  favorable  to  the 
league.  It  was  weakened,  however,  by  the  defection  of  some  of 
its  own  members;  Cremona,  which  had  never  cordially  united  with 
her  ancient  enemies,  made  separate  conditions  with  Frederick,  and 
suffered  herself  to  be  named  among  the  cities  on  the  imperial  side 
in  the  armistice.  Tortona  and  even  Alessandria  followed  the  same 
course  during  the  six  years  of  its  duration — a  fatal  testimony  of 
unsubdued  animosities,  and  omen  of  the  calamities  of  Italy.  At 
the  expiration  of  the  truce,  Frederick's  anxiety  to  secure  the  crown 
for  his  son  overcame  his  pride,  and  the  famous  Peace  of  Constance 
established  the  Lombard  republics  in  real  independence  in  1183. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Constance  the  cities  were  maintained  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  regalian  rights,  whether  within  their  walls 
or  in  their  district,  which  they  could  claim  by  usage.  Those  of 
levying  war,  of  erecting  fortifications,  and  of  administering  civil 
and  criminal  justice,  were  specially  mentioned.  The  nomination 
of  their  consuls,  or  other  magistrates,  was  left  absolutely  to  the 
citizens ;  but  they  were  to  receive  the  investiture  of  their  office  from 


106  ITALY 

1183-1196 

an  imperial  legate.  The  customary  tributes  of  provision  during 
the  emperor's  residence  in  Italy  were  preserved ;  and  he  was  author- 
ized to  appoint  in  every  city  a  judge  of  appeal  in  civil  causes.  The 
Lombard  league  was  confirmed,  and  the  cities  were  permitted  to 
renew  it  at  their  own  discretion ;  but  they  were  to  take,  every  ten 
years,  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  emperor.  This  just  compact  pre- 
served, along  with  every  security  for  the  liberties  and  welfare  of 
the  cities,  as  much  of  the  imperial  prerogatives  as  could  be  exer- 
cised by  a  foreign  sovereign  consistently  with  the  people's  hap- 
piness. 

Frederick  did  not  attempt  to  molest  the  cities  of  Lombardy 
in  the  enjoyment  of  those  privileges  conceded  by  the  Treaty  of  Con- 
stance. His  ambition  was  diverted  to  a  new  scheme  for  aggrandiz- 
ing the  house  of  Suabia  by  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  son  Henry 
with  Constance,  the  aunt  and  heiress  of  William  II.,  King  of  Sicily. 
That  kingdom,  which  the  first  monarch  Roger  had  elevated  to  a 
high  pitch  of  renown  and  power,  fell  into  decay  through  the  mis- 
conduct of  his  son  William,  surnamed  the  Bad,  and  did  not  recover 
much  of  its  luster  under  the  second  William,  though  styled  the 
Good.  His  death  without  issue  was  apparently  no  remote  event; 
and  Constance  was  the  sole  legitimate  survivor  of  the  royal  family. 
It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  no  hereditary  kingdom  appears 
absolutely  to  have  excluded  females  from  its  throne,  except  that 
which  from  its  magnitude  was  of  all  the  most  secure  from  falling 
into  the  condition  of  a  province.  The  Sicilians  felt  too  late  the 
defect  of  their  constitution,  which  permitted  an  independent  people 
to  be  transferred,  as  the  dowry  of  a  woman,  to  a  foreign  prince, 
by  whose  ministers  they  might  justly  expect  to  be  insulted  and 
oppressed.  Henry,  whose  marriage  with  Constance  took  place  in 
1186,  and  who  succeeded  in  her  right  to  the  throne  of  Sicily  three 
years  afterward,  was  exasperated  by  a  courageous  but  unsuccessful 
effort  of  the  Norman  barons  to  preserve  the  crown  for  an  illegiti- 
mate branch  of  the  royal  family ;  and  his  reign  is  disgraced  by  a 
series  of  atrocious  cruelties.  The  power  of  the  house  of  Suabia 
was  now  at  its  zenith  on  each  side  of  the  Alps ;  Henry  received  the 
imperial  crown  the  year  after  his  fathers  death  in  the  third  crusade, 
and  even  prevailed  upon  the  princes  of  Germany  to  elect  his  infant 
son  Frederick  as  his  successor.  But  his  own  premature  decease 
clouded  the  prospects  of  his  family;  Constance  survived  him  but 
a  year;  and  a  child  but  four  years  old  was  left  with  the  inheritance 


FREDERICK     BARBAROSSA  197 

1196-1216 

of  a  kingdom  which  his  fathers  severity  had  rendered  disaffected, 
and  which  the  leaders  of  German  mercenaries  in  his  service  deso- 
lated and  disputed. 

During  the  minority  of  Frederick  II.,  from  1196  to  12 16,  the 
papal  chair  was  filled  by  Innocent  III.,  a  name  second  only,  and 
hardly  second,  to  that  of  Gregory  VII.  Young,  noble,  and  in- 
trepid, he  united  with  the  accustomed  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  enter- 
prise, which  no  one  had  ever  carried  to  so  high  a  point,  the  more 
worldly  ambition  of  consolidating  a  separate  principality  for  the 
Holy  See  in  the  center  of  Italy.  The  real  and  the  spurious  donations 
of  Constantine,  Pipin,  Charlemagne,  and  Louis  had  given  rise  to  a 
perpetual  claim  on  the  part  of  the  Popes  to  very  extensive  domin- 
ions, but  little  of  this  had  been  effectuated,  and  in  Rome  itself  they 
were  thwarted  by  the  prefect — an  officer  who  swore  fidelity  to  the 
emperor — and  by  the  insubordinate  spirit  of  the  people.  In  the 
very  neighborhood  the  small  cities  owned  no  subjection  to  the  capi- 
tal and  were  probably  as  much  self-governed  as  those  of  Lom- 
bardy.  One  is  transported  back  to  the  earliest  times  of  the  Repub- 
lic in  reading  of  the  desperate  wars  between  Rome  and  Tibur  or 
Tusculum,  neither  of  which  was  subjugated  till  the  latter  part  of 
the  twelfth  century.  At  a  farther  distance  were  the  duchy  of 
Spoleto,  the  march  of  Ancona,  and  what  had  been  the  exarchate  of 
Ravenna,  to  all  of  which  the  Popes  had  more  or  less  grounded  pre- 
tensions. Early  in  the  last-mentioned  age,  the  famous  Countess 
Matilda,  to  whose  zealous  protection  Gregory  VII.  had  been  emi- 
nently indebted  during  his  long  dispute  with  the  emperor,  granted 
the  reversion  of  all  her  possessions  to  the  Holy  See,  first  in  the  life- 
time of  Gregory,  and  again  under  the  pontificate  of  Paschal  III. 
These  were  very  extensive  and  held  by  different  titles.  Of  her 
vast  imperial  fiefs,  Mantua,  Modena,  and  Tuscany,  she  certainly 
could  not  dispose.  The  duchy  of  Spoleto  and  march  of  Ancona 
were  supposed  to  rest  upon  a  different  footing.  These  had  been 
formerly  among  the  great  fiefs  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  They  are 
commonly  considered  as  her  allodial  or  patrimonial  property;  yet 
it  is  not  easy  to  see  how,  being  herself  a  subject  of  the  Empire,  she 
could  transfer  even  her  allodial  estates  from  its  sovereignty.  Nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  can  it  apparently  be  maintained  that  she  was 
lawful  sovereign  of  countries  which  had  not  long  since  been  im- 
perial fiefs,  and  the  suzerainty  over  which  had  never  been  renounced. 
The  original  title  of  the  Holy  See,  therefore,  does  not  seem  incon- 


108  ITALY 

1196-1216 

testable  even  as  to  this  part  of  Matilda's  donation.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  the  emperors  kept  possession  of  the  whole  during  the 
twelfth  century,  and  treated  both  Spoleto  and  Ancona  as  parts  of  the 
Empire,  notwithstanding  continual  remonstrances  from  the  Roman 
pontiffs.  Frederick  Barbarossa,  at  the  negotiations  of  Venice  in 
1 177,  promised  to  restore  the  patrimony  of  Matilda  in  fifteen  years; 
but  at  the  close  of  that  period  Henry  VI.  was  not  disposed  to  execute 
this  arrangement,  and  granted  the  county  in  fief  to  some  of  his  Ger- 
man followers.  Upon  his  death,  the  circumstances  were  favorable 
to  Innocent  III.  The  infant  King  of  Sicily  had  been  intrusted  by 
Constance  to  his  guardianship.  A  double  election  of  Philip,  brother 
of  Henry  VI.,  and  of  Otho,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  engaged  the  princes 
of  Germany,  who  had  entirely  overlooked  the  claims  of  young  Fred- 
erick, in  a  doubtful  civil  war.  Neither  party  was  in  a  condition  to 
enter  Italy;  and  the  imperial  dignity  wras  vacant  for  several  years, 
till,  the  death  of  Philip  removing  one  competitor,  Otho  IV.  was 
crowned  emperor.  During  this  interval  the  Italians  had  no  su- 
perior, and  Innocent  seized  the  occasion  to  maintain  the  claims 
of  the  See.  These  he  backed  by  the  production  of  rather  a  ques- 
tionable document,  the  will  of  Henry  VI.,  said  to  have  been  found 
among  the  baggage  of  Marquard,  one  of  the  German  soldiers  who 
had  been  invested  with  fiefs  by  the  late  emperor.  The  cities  of  what 
we  now  call  the  ecclesiastical  state  had  in  the  twelfth  century  their 
own  municipal  government  like  those  of  Lombardy;  but  they  were 
far  less  able  to  assert  a  complete  independence.  They  gladly,  there- 
fore, put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See,  which 
held  out  some  prospect  of  securing  them  from  Marquard  and  other 
rapacious  partisans,  without  disturbing  their  internal  regulations. 
Thus  the  duchy  of  Spoleto  and  march  of  Ancona  submitted  to  Inno- 
cent III. ;  but  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  keep  constant  possession 
of  such  extensive  territories,  and  some  years  afterward  adopted  the 
prudent  course  of  granting  Ancona  in  fief  to  the  Marquis  of  Este. 
He  did  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  neglect  his  authority  at  home ;  the 
Prefect  of  Rome  was  now  compelled  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  Pope, 
which  put  an  end  to  the  regular  imperial  supremacy  over  that  city, 
and  the  privileges  of  the  citizens  were  abridged.  This  is  the  proper 
era  of  that  temporal  sovereignty  which  the  bishops  of  Rome  possess 
over  their  own  city,  though  still  prevented  by  various  causes,  for 
nearly  three  centuries,  from  becoming  unquestioned  and  unlimited. 


Chapter  XXIX 

THE   LOMBARD    CITIES.     1200-1250 

IN"  the  wars  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  against  Milan  and  its  allies, 
we  have  seen  the  cities  of  Lombardy  divided,  and  a  considerable 
number  of  them  firmly  attached  to  the  imperial  interest.  The 
jealousies  long  existing  between  the  different  classes,  and  only  sus- 
pended by  the  national  struggle  which  terminated  at  Constance,  gave 
rise  to  new  modifications  of  interests,  and  new  relations  toward  the 
empire.  About  the  year  1200,  or  perhaps  a  little  later,  the  two 
leading  parties  which  divided  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  whose 
mutual  animosity — having  no  general  subject  of  contention — re- 
quired the  association  of  a  name  to  direct  as  well  as  invigorate  its 
prejudices,  became  distinguished  by  the  celebrated  appellations  of 
Guelphs  and  Ghibellines,  the  former  adhering  to  the  papal  side,  the 
latter  to  that  of  the  emperor.  These  names  were  derived  from  Ger- 
many, and  had  been  the  rallying  word  of  faction  for  more  than  half 
a  century  in  that  country  before  they  were  transported  to  a  still  more 
favorable  soil.  The  Guelphs  took  their  name  from  a  very  illustrious 
family,  several  of  whom  had  successively  been  dukes  of  Bavaria  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  The  heiress  of  the  last  of  these 
intermarried  with  a  younger  son  of  the  house  of  Este,  a  noble  family 
settled  near  Padua,  and  possessed  of  great  estates  on  each  bank  of 
the  lower  Po.  They  gave  birth  to  a  second  line  of  Guelphs,  from 
whom  the  royal  house  of  Brunswick  is  descended.  The  name  of 
Ghibelline  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  a  village  in  Fran- 
conia,  whence  Conrad  the  Salic  came,  the  progenitor,  through  fe- 
males, of  the  Suabian  emperors.  At  the  election  of  Lothaire  in 
1 1 25  the  Suabian  family  were  disappointed  of  what  they  considered 
almost  an  hereditary  possession ;  and  at  this  time  a  hostility  appears 
to  have  commenced  between  them  and  the  house  of  Guelph,  who 
were  nearly  related  to  Lothaire.  Henry  the  Proud  and  his  son, 
Henry  the  Lion,  representatives  of  the  latter  family,  were  frequently 
persecuted  by  the  Suabian  emperors ;  but  their  fortunes  belong  to  the 
history  of  Germany.     Meanwhile  the  elder  branch,  though  not  re- 

199 


200  ITALY 

1200-1250 

served  for  such  glorious  destinies  as  the  Guelphs,  continued  to  flour- 
ish in  Italy ;  the  marquises  of  Este  were  by  far  the  most  powerful 
nobles  in  eastern  Lombardy,  and  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury began  to  be  considered  as  the  heads  of  the  church  party  in  their 
neighborhood.  They  were  frequently  chosen  to  the  office  of  podesta, 
or  chief  magistrate,  by  the  cities  of  Romagna  ;  and  in  1208  the  people 
of  Ferrara  set  the  fatal  example  of  sacrificing  their  freedom  for 
tranquillity  by  electing  Azzo  VII.,  Marquis  of  Este,  as  their  lord 
or  sovereign. 

Otho  IV.  was  the  son  of  Henry  the  Lion,  and  consequently  head 
of  the  Guelphs.  On  his  obtaining  the  imperial  crown  in  1198,  the 
prejudices  of  Italian  factions  were  diverted  out  of  their  usual  chan- 
nel. He  was  soon  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with  the  Pope,  whose  hos- 
tility to  the  Empire  was  certain,  into  whatever  hands  it  might  fall. 
In  Milan,  however,  and  generally  in  the  cities  which  had  belonged  to 
the  Lombard  league  against  Frederick  I.,  hatred  of  the  house  of 
Suabia  prevailed  more  than  jealousy  of  the  imperial  prerogatives; 
they  adhered  to  names  rather  than  to  principles,  and  supported  a 
Guelph  emperor  even  against  the  Pope.  Terms  of  this  description, 
having  no  definite  relation  to  principles  which  it  might  be  trouble- 
some to  learn  and  defend,  are  always  acceptable  to  mankind,  and 
have  the  peculiar  advantage  of  precluding  altogether  that  spirit  of 
compromise  and  accommodation  by  which  it  is  sometimes  en- 
deavored to  obstruct  their  tendency  to  hate  and  injure  each  other. 
From  this  time,  every  city,  and  almost  every  citizen,  gloried  in  one 
of  these  barbarous  denominations.  In  several  cities  the  imperial 
party  predominated  through  hatred  of  their  neighbors,  who  espoused 
that  of  the  church.  Thus  the  inveterate  feuds  between  Pisa  and 
Florence,  Modena  and  Bologna,  Cremona  and  Milan,  threw  them 
into  opposite  factions.  But  there  was  in  every  one  of  these  a 
strong  party  against  that  which  prevailed,  and  consequently  a 
Guelph  city  frequently  became  Ghibelline,  or  conversely,  according 
to  the  fluctuations  of  the  time. 

The  change  to  which  we  have  adverted  in  the  politics  of  the 
Guelph  party  lasted  only  during  the  reign  of  Otho  IV.  When  the 
heir  of  the  house  of  Suabia  grew  up  to  manhood,  Innocent,  who, 
though  his  guardian,  had  taken  little  care  of  his  interests,  as  long 
as  he  flattered  himself  with  the  hope  of  finding  a  Guelph  emperor 
obedient,  placed  the  young  Frederick  at  the  head  of  an  opposition 
composed  of  cities  always  attached  to  his  family,  and  of  such  as 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  201 

1200-1250 

implicitly  followed  the  See  of  Rome.  He  met  with  considerable 
success  both  in  Italy  and  Germany,  and,  after  the  death  of  Otho, 
received  the  imperial  crown  in  1212.  But  he  had  no  longer  to 
expect  any  assistance  from  the  Pope  who  conferred  it.  Innocent 
was  dead,  and  Honorius  III.,  his  successor,  could  not  behold  without 
apprehension  the  vast  power  of  Frederick,  supported  in  Lombardy 
by  a  faction  which  balanced  that  of  the  church,  and  menacing  the 
ecclesiastical  territories  on  the  other  side  by  the  possession  of  Naples 
and  Sicily.  This  kingdom,  feudatory  to  Rome,  and  long  her  firm- 
est ally,  was  now,  by  a  fatal  connection  which  she  had  not  been 
able  to  prevent,  thrown  into  the  scale  of  her  most  dangerous  enemy. 
Hence  the  temporal  dominion  which  Innocent  III.  had  taken  so 
much  pains  to  establish  became  a  very  precarious  possession,  ex- 
posed on  each  side  to  the  attacks  of  a  power  that  had  legitimate  pre- 
tensions to  almost  every  province  composing  it.  The  life  of  Fred- 
erick II.  was  wasted  in  an  unceasing  contention  with  the  church, 
and  with  his  Italian  subjects,  whom  she  excited  to  rebellions  against 
him.  Without  inveighing  against  this  prince,  who  was  cer- 
tainly an  encourager  of  letters,  and  endowed  with  many  eminent 
qualities,  we  may  lay  to  his  charge  a  good  deal  of  dissimulation 
and  a  justifiable  ambition  to  strengthen  and  extend  his  power.  He 
was  the  first  modern  king,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  whole  reign  and 
especially  by  his  famous  legislation  for  his  Sicilian  kingdom.1  But, 
perhaps,  if  he  had  been  a  model  of  virtues,  such  men  as  Honorius 
III.,  Gregory  IX.,  and  Innocent  IV.,  the  Popes  with  whom  he  had 
successively  to  contend,  would  not  have  given  him  respite  while  he 
remained  master  of  Naples  as  well  as  the  Empire. 

It  was  the  custom  of  every  Pope  to  urge  princes  into  a  crusade, 
which  the  condition  of  Palestine  rendered  indispensable,  or,  more 
properly,  desperate.  But  this  great  piece  of  supererogatory  devo- 
tion had  never  yet  been  raised  into  an  absolute  duty  of  their  station, 
nor  had  even  private  persons  been  ever  required  to  take  up  the  cross 
by  compulsion.  Honorius  III.,  however,  exacted  a  vow  from 
Frederick,  before  he  conferred  upon  him  the  imperial  crown,  that  he 
would  undertake  a  crusade  for  the  deliverance  of  Jerusalem.  Fred- 
erick submitted  to  this  engagement,  which  perhaps  he  never 
designed  to  keep,  and  certainly  endeavored  afterward  to  evade. 
Though  he  became  by  marriage  nominal  King  of  Jerusalem,  his  ex- 
cellent understanding  was  not  captivated  with  so  barren  a  prospect, 
and  at  length  his  delays  in  the  performance  of  his  vow  provoked 
^ 1  Emerton,    "  Medieval    Europe,"    pp.    346-347. 


202  ITALY 

1200-1250 

Gregory  IX.  to  issue  against  him  a  sentence  of  excommunication. 
Such  a  thunderbolt  was  not  to  be  lightly  regarded,  and  Frederick 
sailed,  the  next  year,  for  Palestine.  But  having  disdained  to  solicit 
absolution  for  what  he  considered  as  no  crime,  the  court  of  Rome 
was  excited  to  still  fiercer  indignation  against  this  profanation  of  a 
crusade  by  an  excommunicated  sovereign.  Upon  his  arrival  in 
Palestine  he  received  intelligence  that  the  papal  troops  had  broken 
into  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  No  one  could  rationally  have  blamed 
Frederick,  if  he  had  quitted  the  Holy  Land  as  he  found  it;  but  he 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Saracens,  which  though  by  no  means  so  dis- 
advantageous as  under  all  the  circumstances  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, served  as  a  pretext  for  new  calumnies  against  him  in  Europe. 
Jerusalem  itself  was  handed  over  to  him  and  in  that  city  he  was 
crowned  King  of  Jerusalem  in  1228.  The  charge  of  irreligion, 
eagerly  and  successfully  propagated,  he  repelled  by  persecuting 
edicts  against  heresy  that  do  no  great  honor  to  his  memory,  and 
availed  him  little  at  the  time.  Over  his  Neapolitan  dominions  he 
exercised  a  rigorous  government,  rendered  perhaps  necessary  by  the 
levity  and  insubordination  characteristic  of  the  inhabitants,  but 
which  tended,  through  the  artful  representations  of  Honorius  and 
Gregory,  to  alarm  and  alienate  the  Italian  republics. 

A  new  generation  had  risen  up  in  Lombardy  since  the  Peace  of 
Constance,  and  the  prerogatives  reserved  by  that  treaty  to  the  Em- 
pire were  so  seldom  called  into  action  that  few  cities  were  disposed 
to  recollect  their  existence.  They  denominated  themselves  Guelphs 
or  Ghibellines,  according  to  habit,  and  out  of  their  mutual  opposi- 
tion, but  without  much  reference  to  the  Empire.  Those,  however, 
of  the  former  party,  and  especially  Milan,  retained  their  antipathy 
to  the  house  of  Suabia.  Though  Frederick  II.  was  entitled,  as  far 
as  established  usage  can  create  a  right,  to  the  sovereignty  of  Italy, 
the  Milanese  would  never  acknowledge  him,  nor  permit  his  corona- 
tion at  Monza,  according  to  ancient  ceremony,  with  the  Iron  Crown 
of  the  Lombard  kings.  The  Pope  fomented,  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power,  this  disaffected  spirit,  and  encouraged  the  Lombard  cities  to 
renew  their  former  league.  This,  although  conformable  to  a  pro- 
vision in  the  Treaty  of  Constance,  was  manifestly  hostile  to  Fred- 
erick, and  may  be  considered  as  the  commencement  of  a  second  con- 
test between  the  republican  cities  of  Lombardy  and  the  Empire.  But 
there  was  a  striking  difference  between  this  and  the  former  confed- 
eracy against  Frederick  Barbarossa.     In  the  league  of  1167,  almost 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  203 

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every  city,  forgetting  all  smaller  animosities  in  the  great  cause  of 
defending  the  national  privileges,  contributed  its  share  of  exertion 
to  sustain  that  perilous  conflict;  and  this  transient  unanimity  in  a 
people  so  distracted  by  internal  faction  as  the  Lombards,  is  the  surest 
witness  to  the  justice  of  their  undertaking.  Sixty  years  afterward 
their  war  against  the  second  Frederick  had  less  of  provocation  and 
less  of  public  spirit.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  party  struggle  of  Guelph  and 
Ghibelline  cities,  to  which  the  names  of  the  Church  and  the  Empire 
gave  more  of  dignity  and  consistence. 

The  republics  of  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century  were  so  numer- 
ous and  independent,  and  their  revolutions  so  frequent,  that  it  is  a 
difficult  matter  to  avoid  confusion  in  following  their  history.  It 
will  give  more  arrangement  to  our  ideas,  and  at  the  same  time  illus- 
trate the  changes  that  took  place  in  these  little  states,  if  we  consider 
them  as  divided  into  four  clusters  or  constellations,  not  indeed  un- 
connected one  with  another,  yet  each  having  its  own  center  of  motion 
and  its  own  boundaries.  ( i )  The  first  of  these  we  may  suppose 
formed  of  the  cities  in  central  Lombardy,  between  the  Sessia  and  the 
Adige,  the  Alps  and  the  Ligurian  mountains ;  it  comprehends  Milan, 
Cremona,  Pavia,  Brescia,  Bergamo,  Parma,  Piacenza,  Mantua,  Lodi, 
Alessandria,  and  several  others  less  distinguished.  These  were 
the  original  seats  of  Italian  liberty,  the  great  movers  in  the  wars 
of  the  elder  Frederick.  Milan  was  at  the  head  of  this  cluster  of 
cities,  and  her  influence  gave  an  ascendency  to  the  Guelph  party; 
she  had,  since  the  Treaty  of  Constance,  rendered  Lodi  and  Pavia 
almost  her  subjects,  and  was  in  strict  union  with  Brescia  and 
Piacenza.  Parma,  however,  and  Cremona,  were  unshaken  defend- 
ers of  the  Empire.  (2)  In  the  second  class  we  may  place  the  cities 
of  the  march  of  Verona,  between  the  Adige  and  the  frontiers  of 
Germany.  Of  these  there  were  but  four  worth  mentioning: 
Verona,  Vicenza,  Padua,  and  Treviso.  The  citizens  of  all  the  four 
were  inclined  to  the  Guelph  interests ;  but  a  powerful  body  of  rural 
nobility,  who  had  never  been  compelled,  like  those  upon  the  upper 
Po,  to  quit  their  fortresses  in  the  hilly  country,  or  reside  within  the 
walls,  attached  themselves  to  the  opposite  denomination.  Some  of 
them  obtained  very  great  authority  in  the  civil  feuds  of  these  four 
republics;  and  especially  two  brothers,  Eccelin  and  Alberic  da 
Romano,  of  a  rich  and  distinguished  family,  known  for  its  devotion 
to  the  Empire.  By  extraordinary  vigor  and  decision  of  character, 
by  dissimulation  and  breach  of  oaths,  by  the  intimidating  effects  of 


204  ITALY 

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almost  unparalleled  cruelty,  Eccelin  da  Romano  became  after  some 
years  the  absolute  master  of  three  cities — Padua,  Verona,  and  Vi- 
cenza ;  and  the  Guelph  party,  in  consequence,  was  entirely  subverted 
beyond  the  Adige  during  the  continuance  of  his  tyranny.  (3)  An- 
other cluster  was  composed  of  the  cities  in  Romagna;  Bologna, 
Imola,  Faenza,  Ferrara,  and  several  others.  Of  these  Bologna  was 
far  the  most  powerful,  and,  as  no  city  was  more  steadily  for  the  in- 
terests of  the  church,  the  Guelphs  usually  predominated  in  this  class ; 
to  which,  also,  the  influence  of  the  house  of  Este  not  little  contrib- 
uted. Modena,  though  not  geographically  within  the  limits  of  this 
division,  may  be  classed  along  with  it  from  her  constant  wars  with 
Bologna.  (4)  A  fourth  class  will  comprehend  the  whole  of  Tus- 
cany, separated  almost  entirely  from  the  politics  of  Lombardy  and 
Romagna.  Florence  headed  the  Guelph  cities  in  this  province,  Pisa 
the  Ghibelline.  The  Tuscan  union  was  formed  by  Innocent  III., 
and  was  strongly  inclined  to  the  Popes ;  but  gradually  the  Ghibelline 
party  acquired  its  share  of  influence ;  and  the  cities  of  Siena,  Arezzo, 
and  Lucca  shifted  their  policy,  according  to  external  circumstances 
or  the  fluctuations  of  their  internal  factions.  The  petty  cities  in  the 
region  of  Spoleto  and  Ancona  hardly,  perhaps,  deserve  the  name  of 
republics;  and  Genoa  does  not  readily  fall  into  any  of  our  four 
classes,  unless  her  wars  with  Pisa  may  be  thought  to  connect  her 
with  Tuscany.2 

After  several  years  of  transient  hostility  and  precarious  truce, 
the  Guelph  cities  of  Lombardy  engaged  in  a  regular  and  protracted 
war  with  Frederick  II.,  or  more  properly  with  their  Ghibelline  ad- 
versaries. Few  events  of  this  contest  deserve  particular  notice. 
Neither  party  ever  obtained  such  decisive  advantages  as  had  alter- 
nately belonged  to  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  the  Lombard  con- 
federacy during  the  war  of  the  preceding  century.  A  defeat  of  the 
Milanese  by  the  emperor,  at  Corte  Nuova,  in  1237,  was  balanced  by 
his  unsuccessful  siege  at  Brescia  the  next  year.  The  Pisans  assisted 
Frederick  to  gain  a  great  naval  victory  over  the  Genoese  fleet,  in 

2  I  have  taken  no  notice  of  Piedmont  in  this  division.  The  history  of  that 
country  seems  to  be  less  elucidated  by  ancient  or  modern  writers  than  that  of 
other  parts  of  Italy.  It  was  at  this  time  divided  between  the  counts  of  Savoy 
and  marquises  of  Montferrat.  But  Asti,  Chieri,  and  Turin,  especially  the  two 
former,  appear  to  have  had  a  republican  form  of  government.  They  were,  how- 
ever, not  absolutely  independent.  The  only  Piedmontese  city  that  can  properly 
be  considered  as  a  separate  state,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  was  Vercelli,  and 
even  there  the  bishop  seems  to  have  possessed  a  sort  of  temporal  sovereignty. 


THE      LOMBARD     CITIES  205 

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1 24 1 ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  rise  from  the  blockade  of  Parma,  which 
had  left  the  standards  of  Ghibellinism,  in  1248.  Ultimately,  how- 
ever, the  strength  of  the  house  of  Suabia  was  exhausted  by  so  tedi- 
ous a  struggle;  the  Ghibellines  of  Italy  had  their  vicissitudes  of 
success ;  but  their  country,  and  even  themselves,  lost  more  and  more 
of  the  ancient  connection  with  Germany. 

In  this  resistance  to  Frederick  II.  the  Lombards  were  much 
indebted  to  the  constant  support  of  Gregory  IX.  and  his  successor, 
Innocent  IV.,  and  the  Guelph  or  the  church  party  were  used  as 
synonymous  terms.  These  pontiffs  bore  an  unquenchable  hatred  to 
the  house  of  Suabia.  No  concessions  mitigated  their  animosity ;  no 
reconciliation  was  sincere.  Whatever  crimes  were  committed  by 
Frederick,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  he  was  severely  punished. 
At  first  his  crime  was  the  inheritance  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  name 
of  the  house  of  Suabia.  In  1239  he  was  excommunicated  by 
Gregory  IX.  To  this  he  was  tolerably  accustomed  by  former  ex- 
perience; but  the  sentence  was  attended  by  an  absolution  of  his 
subjects  from  their  allegiance  and  a  formal  deposition.  These  sen- 
tences were  not  very  effective  upon  men  of  vigorous  minds,  or  upon 
those  who  wavered  already  as  to  their  line  of  political  conduct.  In 
the  fluctuating  state  of  Lombardy  the  excommunication  of  Frederick 
undermined  his  interests  even  in  cities  like  Parma,  that  had  been 
friendly,  and  seemed  to  identify  the  cause  of  his  enemies  with  that 
of  religion — a  prejudice  artfully  fomented  by  means  of  calumnies 
propagated  against  himself,  and  which  the  conduct  of  such  leading 
Ghibellines  as  Eccelin,  who  lived  in  an  open  defiance  of  God  and 
man,  did  not  contribute  to  lessen.  In  1240  Gregory  proceeded  to 
publish  a  crusade  against  Frederick,  as  if  he  had  been  an  open 
enemy  to  religion;  which  he  revenged  by  putting  to  death  all  the 
prisoners  he  made  who  wore  the  cross.  There  was  one  thing  want- 
ing to  make  the  expulsion  of  the  emperor  from  the  Christian 
commonwealth  more  complete.  Gregory  IX.  accordingly  projected, 
and  Innocent  IV.,  after  a  refusal  of  his  offers  of  peace,  carried  into 
effect,  the  convocation  of  a  general  council  in  1245.  This  was  held 
at  Lyons,  an  imperial  city,  but  over  which  Frederick  could  no 
longer  retain  his  supremacy.  Of  the  prelates  who  had  embarked 
at  Genoa  for  the  council  one  hundred,  taken  by  the  vassals  of  his 
son  Enzio,  were  put  to  death.  In  this  assembly,  where  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  prelates  appeared,  the  question  whether  Frederick 
ought  to  be  deposed  was  solemnly  discussed ;  he  submitted  to  de- 


206  ITALY 

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fend  himself  by  his  advocates:  and  the  Pope,  in  the  presence,  though 
without  formally  collecting  the  suffrages  of  the  council,  pronounced 
a  sentence,  by  which  Frederick's  excommunication  was  renewed, 
the  Empire  and  all  his  kingdoms  taken  away,  and  his  subjects 
absolved  from  their  fidelity.  This  is  the  most  pompous  act  of 
usurpation  in  all  the  records  of  the  Popes;  and  the  tacit  appro- 
bation of  a  general  council  seemed  to  incorporate  the  pretended 
right  of  deposing  kings,  which  might  have  passed  as  a  mad  vaunt 
of  Gregory  VII.  and  his  successors,  with  the  established  faith  of 
Christendom. 

Upon  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  in  1250  he  left  to  his  son 
Conrad  a  contest  to  maintain  for  every  part  of  his  inheritance,  as 
well  as  for  the  imperial  crown.  But  the  vigor  of  the  house  of 
Suabia  was  gone ;  Conrad  was  reduced  to  fight  for  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  the  only  succession  which  he  could  hope  to  secure  against 
the  troops  of  Innocent  IV.,  who  still  pursued  his  family  with  impla- 
cable hatred,  and  claimed  that  kingdom  as  forfeited  to  its  feudal 
superior,  the  Holy  See.  After  Conrad's  premature  death,  which 
happened  in  1254,  the  throne  was  filled  by  his  illegitimate  brother, 
Manfred,  who  retained  it  by  his  bravery  and  address,  in  despite  of 
the  Popes,  till  they  were  compelled  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  a  more 
powerful  arm. 

The  death  of  Conrad  brings  to  a  termination  that  period  in 
Italian  history  which  we  have  described  as  nearly  coextensive  with 
the  greatness  of  the  house  of  Suabia.  It  is  perhaps,  upon  the  whole, 
the  most  honorable  to  Italy — that  in  which  she  displayed  the  most  of 
national  energy  and  patriotism.  A  Florentine  or  Venetian  may 
dwell  with  pleasure  upon  later  times,  but  a  Lombard  will  cast  back 
his  eye  across  the  desert  of  centuries  till  it  reposes  on  the  field  of 
Legnano. 

The  successful  resistance  of  the  Lombard  cities  to  such  princes 
as  both  the  Fredericks  must  astonish  a  reader  who  brings  to  the 
story  of  these  Middle  Ages  notions  derived  from  modern  times.  But 
when  we  consider  not  only  the  ineffectual  control  which  could  be 
exerted  over  a  feudal  army,  bound  only  to  a  short  term  of  service, 
and  reluctantly  kept  in  the  field  at  its  own  cost,  but  the  peculiar 
distrust  and  disaffection  with  which  many  German  princes  regarded 
the  house  of  Suabia,  less  reason  will  appear  for  surprise.  Nor  did 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  almost  always  in  agitation,  yield  any  ma- 
terial aid  to  the  second  Frederick.      The  main  cause,  however,  of 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  207 

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that  triumph  which  attended  Lombardy  was  the  intrinsic  energy  of  a 
free  government.  From  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  cities  be- 
came virtually  republican,  they  put  out  those  vigorous  shoots  which 
are  the  growth  of  freedom  alone.  Their  domestic  feuds,  their 
mutual  wars,  their  fierce  assaults  on  their  national  enemies,  checked 
not  their  strength,  their  wealth,  or  their  population;  but  rather,  as 
the  limbs  are  nerved  by  labor  and  hardship,  the  republics  of  Italy 
grew  in  vigor  and  courage  through  the  conflicts  they  sustained. 

We  have  few  authentic  testimonies  as  to  the  domestic  improve- 
ment of  the  free  Italian  cities,  while  they  still  deserve  the  name. 
But  we  may  perceive  by  history  that  their  power  and  population, 
according  to  their  extent  of  territory,  were  almost  incredible.  In 
Galvaneus  Flamma,  a  Milanese  writer,  we  find  a  curious  statistical 
account  of  that  city  in  1288,  which,  though  of  a  date  about  thirty 
years  after  its  liberties  had  been  overthrown  by  usurpation,  must  be 
considered  as  implying  a  high  degree  of  previous  advancement,  even 
if  we  make  allowance,  as  probably  we  should,  for  some  exaggera- 
tion. The  inhabitants  are  reckoned  at  200,000;  the  private  houses 
13,000;  the  nobility  alone  dwelt  in  sixty  streets;  8000  gentlemen  or 
heavy  cavalry  (militcs)  might  be  mustered  from  the  city  and  its 
districts,  and  240,000  men  capable  of  arms — a  force  sufficient,  the 
writer  observes,  to  crush  all  the  Saracens.  There  were  in  Milan  six 
hundred  notaries,  two  hundred  physicians,  eighty  school-masters, 
and  fifty  transcribers  of  manuscripts.  In  the  district  were  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  castles  with  adjoining  villages.  At  this  period  the  ter- 
ritory of  Milan  was  not,  perhaps,  as  extensive  as  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island ;  it  was  bounded  at  a  little  distance,  on  almost  every  side, 
by  Lodi,  or  Pavia,  or  Bergamo,  or  Como.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  Flamma  may  have  meant  to  include  some  of  these  as  depend- 
encies of  Milan,  though  not  strictly  united  with  it.  How  flourishing 
must  the  state  of  cultivation  have  been  in  such  a  country,  which  not 
only  drew  no  supplies  from  any  foreign  land,  but  exported  part  of 
her  own  produce!  It  was  in  the  best  age  of  their  liberties,  imme- 
diately after  the  battle  of  Legnano,  that  the  Milanese  commenced  the 
great  canal  which  conducts  the  waters  of  the  Ticino  to  their  capital, 
a  work  very  extraordinary  for  that  time.  During  the  same  period 
the  cities  gave  proofs  of  internal  prosperity  that  in  many  instances 
have  descended  to  our  own  observation,  in  the  solidity  and  magnifi- 
cence of  their  architecture.  Ecclesiastical  structures  were  perhaps 
more  splendid  in  France  and  England ;  but  neither  country  could 


208  ITALY 

1200-1250 

pretend  to  match  the  palaces  and  public  buildings,  the  streets  flagged 
with  stone,  the  bridges  of  the  same  material,  or  the  commodious 
private  houses  of  Italy.  Commerce  was  the  foundation  stone  of 
the  remarkable  rise  of  Italian  cities.  "  Commerce  never  died  out. 
Every  period  of  good  government  in  any  of  the  new  German  states, 
as  under  Theodoric,  even  if  it  lasted  but  for  a  moment,  saw  a  re- 
vival of  it.  Justinian's  conquests  in  Italy  created  a  natural  line  of 
connection  between  the  East  and  the  West  which  continued  un- 
broken until  the  crusades.  Even  before  his  invasion,  the  Venetians 
had  the  reputation  of  making  long  voyages  and  .  .  .  their 
commerce  was  firmly  established  by  the  eighth  century.  Before  the 
eleventh  nearly  all  the  Eastern  goods  which  found  their  way  into 
the  West  came  through  Italy,  where  Venice  and  Amain*  were  the 
two  chief  ports.  .  .  .  The  crusades  .  .  .  did  not  origi- 
nate commerce,  but  they  imparted  to  it  a  new  and  powerful  im- 
pulse. .  .  .  New  commercial  routes  were  opened  up.  Geo- 
graphical knowledge  increased,  and  new  regions  appeared  on  the 
maps.  .  .  .  From  the  first  crusade  on,  commerce  increased 
with  great  rapidity,  .  .  .  aided  the  growth  of  manufacturing 
industries,  multiplied  the  articles  with  which  it  dealt  .  .  .  and 
exercised  a  profound  influence  upon  every  department  of  human 
activity."  3 

The  courage  of  these  cities  was  wrought  sometimes  to  a  tone 
of  insolent  defiance  through  the  security  inspired  by  their  means  of 
defense.  From  the  time  of  the  Romans  to  that  when  the  use  of 
gunpowder  came  to  prevail,  little  change  was  made,  or  perhaps  could 
be  made,  in  that  part  of  military  science  which  relates  to  the  attack 
and  defense  of  fortified  places.  We  find  precisely  the  same  engines 
of  offense :  the  cumbrous  towers,  from  which  arrows  were  shot  at  the 
besieged,  the  machines  from  which  stones  were  discharged,  the  bat- 
tering-rams which  assailed  the  walls,  and  the  basket-work  covering 
(the  vinea  or  testudo  of  the  ancients,  and  the  gattus  or  chatchatcil 
of  the  Middle  Ages)  under  which  those  who  pushed  the  battering- 
engines  were  protected  from  the  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  a  city 
was  fortified  with  a  strong  wall  of  brick  or  marble,  with  towers 
raised  upon  it  at  intervals,  and  a  deep  moat  in  front.  Sometimes 
the  antemural  or  barbacan  was  added — a  rampart  of  less  height, 
which  impeded  the  approach  of  the  hostile  engines.     The  gates  were 

3  Adams,  "  Medieval  Civilization,"  pp.  281-283 ;  also  ch.  xii.,  "  The  Growth 
of  Commerce  and  its  Results." 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  209 

1200-1250 

guarded  with  a  portcullis,  an  invention  which,  as  well  as  the  bar- 
bacan,  was  borrowed  from  the  Saracens.  With  such  advantages 
for  defense,  a  numerous  and  intrepid  body  of  burghers  might  not 
unreasonably  stand  at  bay  against  a  powerful  army;  and  as  the 
consequences  of  capture  were  most  terrible,  while  the  resistance  was 
seldom  hopeless,  we  cannot  wonder  at  the  desperate  bravery  of  so 
many  besieged  towns.  Indeed  it  seldom  happened  that  one  of  con- 
siderable size  was  taken,  except  by  famine  or  treachery. 

Of  the  government  which  existed  in  the  republics  of  Italy 
during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  no  definite  sketch  can 
be  traced.  The  magistrates  elected  in  almost  all  of  them,  when  they 
first  began  to  shake  off  the  jurisdiction  of  their  count  or  bishop, 
were  styled  Consuls — a  word  very  expressive  to  an  Italian  ear, 
since,  in  the  darkest  ages,  tradition  must  have  preserved  some  ac- 
quaintance with  the  republican  government  of  Rome.  The  consuls 
were  always  annual;  and  their  office  comprehended  the  command 
of  the  national  militia  in  war,  as  well  as  the  administration  of  justice 
and  preservation  of  public  order;  but  their  number  was  various — 
two,  four,  six,  or  even  twelve.  In  their  legislative  and  deliberative 
councils  the  Lombards  still  copied  the  Roman  constitution,  or  per- 
haps fell  naturally  into  the  form  most  calculated  to  unite  sound  dis- 
cretion with  the  exercise  of  popular  sovereignty.  A  council  of  trust 
and  secrecy  (dell a  credenza)  was  composed  of  a  small  number  of 
persons,  who  took  the  management  of  public  affairs,  and  may  be 
called  the  ministers  of  the  state.  But  the  decision  upon  matters  of 
general  importance,  treaties  of  alliance  or  declarations  of  war,  the 
choice  of  consuls  or  ambassadors  belonged  to  the  general  council. 
This  appears  not  to  have  been  uniformly  constituted  in  every  city; 
and  according  to  its  composition  the  government  was  more  or  less 
democratic.  An  ultimate  sovereignty,  however,  was  reserved  to 
the  mass  of  the  people;  and  a  parliament  or  general  assembly  was 
held  to  deliberate  on  any  change  in  the  form  of  constitution. 

About  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  a  new  and  singular  species 
of  magistracy  was  introduced  into  the  Lombard  cities.  During  the 
tyranny  of  Frederick  I.  he  had  appointed  officers  of  his  own,  called 
podestas,  instead  of  the  elective  consuls.  It  is  remarkable  that  this 
memorial  of  despotic  power  should  not  have  excited  insuperable 
alarm  and  disgust  in  the  free  republics.  But,  on  the  contrary,  they 
almost  universally,  after  the  Peace  of  Constance,  revived  an  office 
which  had  been  abrogated  when  they  first  rose  in  rebellion  against 


210  ITALY 

1200-1250 

Frederick.  From  experience,  as  we  must  presume,  of  the  partiality 
which  their  domestic  factions  carried  into  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, it  became  a  general  practice  to  elect,  by  the  name  of  podesta,  a 
citizen  of  some  neighboring  state  as  their  general,  their  criminal 
judge,  and  preserver  of  the  peace.  The  last  duty  was  frequently 
arduous,  and  required  a  vigorous  as  well  as  an  upright  magistrate. 
Offenses  against  the  laws  and  security  of  the  commonwealth  were 
during  the  Middle  Ages  as  often,  perhaps  more  often,  committed  by 
the  rich  and  powerful  as  by  the  inferior  class  of  society.  The 
sentence  of  a  magistrate  against  a  powerful  offender  was  not  pro- 
nounced without  danger  of  tumult ;  it  was  seldom  executed  without 
force.  A  convicted  criminal  was  not,  as  at  present,  the  stricken 
deer  of  society,  in  whose  disgrace  his  kindred  shrink  from  participa- 
ting, and  whose  memory  they  strive  to  forget.  The  law  was  to  be 
enforced  not  against  an  individual,  but  a  family — not  against  a 
family,  but  a  faction — not  perhaps  against  a  local  faction,  but  the 
whole  Guelph  or  Ghibelline  name,  which  might  become  interested  in 
the  quarrel.  The  podesta  was  to  arm  the  republic  against  her  re- 
fractory citizen;  his  house  was  to  be  besieged  and  razed  to  the 
ground,  his  defenders  to  be  quelled  by  violence :  and  thus  the  people, 
become  familiar  with  outrage  and  homicide  under  the  command  of 
their  magistrates,  were  more  disposed  to  repeat  such  scenes  at  the 
instigation  of  their  passions. 

The  podesta  was  sometimes  chosen  in  a  general  assembly,  some- 
times by  a  select  number  of  citizens.  His  office  was  annual,  though 
prolonged  in  peculiar  emergencies.  He  was  invariably  a  man  of 
noble  family,  even  in  those  cities  which  excluded  their  own  nobility 
from  any  share  in  the  government.  He  received  a  fixed  salary,  and 
was  compelled  to  remain  in  the  city  after  the  expiration  of  his  office 
for  the  purpose  of  answering  such  charges  as  might  be  adduced 
against  his  conduct.  He  could  neither  marry  a  native  of  the  city 
nor  have  any  relation  resident  within  the  district,  nor  even,  so  great 
was  their  jealousy,  eat  or  drink  in  the  house  of  any  citizen.  The 
authority  of  these  foreign  magistrates  was  not  by  any  means  alike 
in  all  cities.  In  some  he  seems  to  have  superseded  the  consuls,  and 
commanded  the  armies  in  war.  In  others,  as  Milan  and  Florence, 
his  authority  was  merely  judicial.  We  find  in  some  of  the  old 
annals  the  years  headed  by  the  names  of  the  podestas,  as  by  those  of 
the  consuls  in  the  history  of  Rome. 

The  effects  of  the  evil  spirit  of  discord  that  had  so  fatally 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  211 

1200-1250 

breathed  upon  the  republics  of  Lombardy  were  by  no  means  confined 
to  national  interests,  or  to  the  grand  distinction  of  Guelph  and 
Ghibelline.  Dissensions  glowed  in  the  heart  of  every  city,  and  as 
the  danger  of  foreign  war  became  distant,  these  grew  more  fierce 
and  unappeasable.  The  feudal  system  had  been  established  upon 
the  principle  of  territorial  aristocracy ;  it  maintained  the  authority,  it 
encouraged  the  pride  of  rank.  Hence,  when  the  rural  nobility  were 
compelled  to  take  up  their  residence  in  cities,  they  preserved  the 
ascendency  of  birth  and  riches.  From  the  natural  respect  which  is 
shown  to  these  advantages,  all  offices  of  trust  and  command  were 
shared  among  them ;  it  is  not  material  whether  this  were  by  positive 
right  or  continual  usage.  x\  limited  aristocracy  of  this  description, 
where  the  inferior  citizens  possess  the  right  of  selecting  their  magis- 
trates by  free  suffrage  from  a  numerous  body  of  nobles,  is  not 
among  the  worst  forms  of  government,  and  affords  no  contemptible 
security  against  oppression  and  anarchy.  This  regimen  appears  to 
have  prevailed  in  most  of  the  Lombard  cities  during  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries;  but  gradually  dissensions  arose  between  the  no- 
bility and  the  plebeian  burgesses,  which  at  length  broke  out  into  civil 
war  in  most  of  the  Italian  cities.  About  the  year  1220  the  question 
of  aristocratic  or  popular  command  was  tried  by  arms  in  Milan, 
Piacenza,  Modena,  Cremona,  and  Bologna. 

There  is  a  natural  preponderance  in  the  popular  scale,  which,  in 
a  fair  trial,  invariably  gains  on  that  of  the  less  numerous  class.  The 
artisans,  who  composed  the  bulk  of  the  population,  were  arranged  in 
companies,  according  to  their  occupations.  Sometimes,  as  at  Milan, 
they  formed  separate  associations,  with  rules  for  their  internal  gov- 
ernment. The  clubs,  called  at  Milan  La  Motia  and  La  Credcnza, 
obtained  a  degree  of  weight  not  at  all  surprising  to  those  who  con- 
sider the  spirit  of  mutual  attachment  which  belongs  to  such  fraterni- 
ties; and  we  shall  see  a  more  striking  instance  of  this  hereafter  in 
the  republic  of  Florence.  To  so  formidable  and  organized  a  democ- 
racy the  nobles  opposed  their  numerous  families,  the  generous  spirit 
that  belongs  to  high  birth,  the  influence  of  wealth  and  established 
name.  The  members  of  each  distinguished  family  appear  to  have 
lived  in  the  same  street;  their  houses  were  fortified  with  square 
massive  towers  of  commanding  height,  and  wore  the  semblance  of 
castles  within  the  walls  of  a  city.  Brancaleone,  the  famous  senator 
of  Rome,  destroyed  one  hundred  and  forty  of  these  domestic  en- 
trenchments,  which  were  constantly  serving  the  purpose  of  civil 


212  ITALY 

1200-1250 

broils  and  outrage.  Expelled,  as  frequently  happened,  from  the 
city,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  nobles  to  avail  themselves  of  their 
superiority  in  the  use  of  cavalry,  and  to  lay  waste  the  district,  till 
weariness  of  an  unprofitable  contention  reduced  the  citizens  to  terms 
of  compromise.  But  when  all  these  resources  were  ineffectual,  they 
were  tempted  or  forced  to  sacrifice  the  public  liberty  to  their  own 
welfare,  and  lent  their  aid  to  a  foreign  master  or  a  domestic  usurper. 

In  all  these  scenes  of  turbulence,  whether  the  contest  was  be- 
tween the  nobles  and  people,  or  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  factions, 
no  mercy  was  shown  by  the  conquerors.  The  vanquished  lost  their 
homes  and  fortunes,  and,  retiring  to  other  cities  of  their  own  party, 
waited  for  the  opportunity  of  revenge.  In  a  popular  tumult  the 
houses  of  the  beaten  side  were  frequently  leveled  to  the  ground — ■ 
not  perhaps  from  a  senseless  fury,  which  Muratori  inveighs  against, 
but  on  account  of  the  injury  which  these  fortified  houses  inflicted 
upon  the  lower  citizens.  The  most  deadly  hatred  is  that  which  men 
exasperated  by  proscription  and  forfeiture  bear  to  their  country; 
nor  have  we  need  to  ask  any  other  cause  for  the  calamities  of  Italy 
than  the  bitterness  with  which  an  unsuccessful  faction  was  thus  pur- 
sued into  banishment.  When  the  Ghibellines  were  returning  to 
Florence,  after  a  defeat  given  to  the  prevailing  party  in  1260,  it  was 
proposed  among  them  to  demolish  the  city  itself  which  had  cast 
them  out;  and,  but  for  the  persuasion  of  one  man,  Farinata  degl' 
Uberti,4  their  revenge  would  have  thus  extinguished  all  patriotism. 
It  is  to  this  that  we  must  ascribe  their  proneness  to  call  in  assistance 
from  every  side,  and  to  invite  any  servitude  for  the  sake  of  retaliating 
upon  their  adversaries. 

Independently  of  the  two  leading  differences  which  embattled 
the  citizens  of  an  Italian  state,  their  form  of  government  and  their 
relation  to  the  Empire,  there  were  others  more  contemptible  though 
not  less  mischievous.  In  every  city  the  quarrels  of  private  families 
became  the  foundation  of  general  schism,  sedition,  and  proscription. 
Sometimes  these  blended  themselves  with  the  grand  distinctions  of 
Guelph  and  Ghibelline;  sometimes  they  were  more  nakedly  con- 
spicuous. Thus  an  outrage  committed  at  Pistoja  in  1300  split  the 
inhabitants  into  the  parties  of  Bianchi  and  Neri ;  and  these,  spread- 
ing to  Florence,  created  one  of  the  most  virulent  divisions  which  an- 

4  I  cannot  forgive  Dante  for  placing  this  patriot  tra  I'anime  piii  nere,  in  one 
of  the  worse  regions  of  his  Inferno.  The  conversation  of  the  poet  with  Far- 
inata, cant.  10,  is  very  tine,  and  illustrative  of  Florentine  history. 


THE     LOMBARD     CITIES  213 

1200-1250 

noyed  that  republic.  In  one  of  the  changes  which  attended  this 
little  ramification  of  faction,  Florence  expelled  a  young  citizen  who 
had  borne  offices  of  magistracy,  and  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Bianchi.  Dante  Alighieri  retired  to  the  courts  of  some  Ghibelline 
princes,  where  his  sublime  and  inventive  mind,  in  the  gloom  of 
exile,  completed  that  original  combination  of  vast  and  extravagant 
Conceptions  with  keen  political  satire  which  has  given  immortality 
to  his  name,  and  even  luster  to  the  petty  contests  of  his  time. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  Lombard  republics  their  differences, 
as  well  mutual  as  domestic,  had  been  frequently  appeased  by  the 
mediation  of  the  emperors;  and  the  loss  of  this  salutary  influence 
may  be  considered  as  no  slight  evil  attached  to  that  absolute  emanci- 
pation which  Italy  attained  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  Popes 
sometimes  endeavored  to  interpose  an  authority  which,  though  not 
quite  so  direct,  was  held  in  greater  veneration ;  and  if  their  own 
tempers  had  been  always  pure  from  the  selfish  and  vindictive  pas- 
sions of  those  whom  they  influenced,  might  have  produced  more 
general  and  permanent  good.  But  they  considered  the  Ghibellines 
as  their  own  peculiar  enemies,  and  the  triumph  of  the  opposite  fac- 
tion as  the  Church's  best  security.  Gregory  X.  and  Nicholas  III., 
whether  from  benevolent  motives,  or  because  their  jealousy  of 
Charles  of  Anjou,  while  at  the  head  of  the  Guelphs,  suggested  the 
revival  of  a  Ghibelline  party  as  a  counterpoise  to  his  power,  dis- 
tinguished their  pontificate  by  enforcing  measures  of  reconciliation 
in  all  Italian  cities ;  but  their  successors  returned  to  the  ancient  policy 
and  prejudices  of  Rome. 

"  One  can  hardly  lament  the  failure  of  the  Italian  people  to 
form  a  truly  national  government.  .  .  .  Had  such  a  govern- 
ment been  formed  it  would  undoubtedly  have  saved  the  Italians 
much  political  misery  and  tyranny.  .  .  .  But  if  it  had  been  done 
either  by  the  earlier  Lombard  kings  or  by  some  of  the  local  nobles 
at  the  fall  of  Charlemagne's  empire,  Italy  would  probably  have 
failed  of  the  peculiar  glories  of  her  history;  the  stimulating  rivalries 
of  the  little  municipal  republics  in  the  latter  half  of  the  Middle  Ages 
would  have  been  lacking,  and  the  great  results  which  seem  to  be  in 
such  close  dependence  upon  these  would  have  occurred  more  slowly, 
and  very  possibly  in  some  other  part  of  Europe.5 

5  Adams,    "  Medieval    Civilization,"    p.    182. 


Chapter   XXX 

THE   RISE    OF   DESPOTS.     1250-1354 

FROM  the  death  of  Frederick  II.,  in  1250,  to  the  invasion 
of  Charles  VIII.,  in  1494,  a  long  and  undistinguished  period 
occurs  which  it  is  impossible  to  break  into  any  natural  di- 
visions. It  is  an  age  in  many  respects  highly  brilliant — the  age  of 
poetry  and  letters,  of  art,  and  of  continual  improvement.  Italy  dis- 
played an  intellectual  superiority  in  this  period  over  the  transalpine 
nations  which  certainly  had  not  appeared  since  the  destruction  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  But  her  political  history  presents  a  labyrinth 
of  petty  facts  so  obscure  and  of  so  little  influence  as  not  to  arrest 
the  attention,  so  intricate  and  incapable  of  classification  as  to  leave 
only  confusion  in  the  memory.  The  general  events  that  are  worthy 
of  notice,  and  give  a  character  to  this  long  period,  are  the  estab- 
lishment of  small  tyrannies  upon  the  ruins  of  republican  govern- 
ment in  most  of  the  cities,  the  gradual  rise  of  three  considerable 
states,  Milan,  Florence,  and  Venice,  the  naval  and  commercial  riv- 
alry between  the  last  city  and  Genoa,  the  final  acquisition  by 
the  Popes  of  their  later  territorial  sovereignty,  and  the  revo- 
lutions in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  under  the  lines  of  Anjou  and 
Aragon. 

After  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  the  distinctions  of  Guelph 
and  Ghibelline  became  destitute  of  all  rational  meaning.  The  most 
odious  crimes  were  constantly  perpetrated,  and  the  utmost  miseries 
endured,  for  an  echo  and  a  shade  that  mocked  the  deluded  en- 
thusiasts of  faction.  None  of  the  Guelphs  denied  the  nominal  but 
indefinite  sovereignty  of  the  Empire;  and  beyond  a  name  the  Ghib- 
ellines  themselves  would  have  been  little  disposed  to  carry  it.  But 
the  virulent  hatreds  attached  to  these  words  grew  continually  more 
implacable,  till  ages  of  ignominy  and  tyrannical  government  had 
extinguished  every  energetic  passion  in  the  bosoms  of  a  degraded 
people. 

In  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  Rome  appeared  to  have 

214 


RISE     OF     DESPOTS  215 

1250-1268 

consummated  her  triumph.  She  gained  a  still  further  ascendency 
by  the  change  of  dynasty  in  Naples.  This  kingdom  had  been  oc- 
cupied, after  the  death  of  Conrad,  by  his  illegitimate  brother,  Man- 
fred, in  the  behalf,  as  he  at  first  pretended,  of  young  Conradin  the 
heir,  but  in  fact  as  his  own  acquisition.  He  was  a  prince  of  an 
active  and  firm  mind,  well  fitted  for  his  difficult  post,  to  whom  the 
Ghibellines  looked  up  as  their  head,  and  as  the  representative  of  his 
father.  It  was  a  natural  object  with  the  Popes,  independently  of 
their  ill-will  toward  a  son  of  Frederick  II.,  to  see  a  sovereign  upon 
whom  they  could  better  rely  placed  upon  so  neighboring  a  throne. 
Charles,  Count  of  Anjou,  brother  of  St.  Louis,  was  tempted  by  them 
to  lead  a  crusade  (for  as  such  all  wars  for  the  interest  of  Rome 
were  now  considered)  against  the  Neapolitan  usurper  (1265). 
The  chance  of  a  battle  decided  the  fate  of  Naples,  and  had  a  striking 
influence  upon  the  history  of  Europe  for  several  centuries.  Man- 
fred was  killed  in  the  field;  but  there  remained  the  legitimate  heir 
of  the  Fredericks,  a  boy  of  seventeen  years,  Conradin,  son  of 
Conrad,  who  rashly,  as  we  say  at  least  after  the  event,  attempted 
to  regain  his  inheritance.  He  fell  into  the  hands  of  Charles  at  the 
battle  of  Tagliacozzo,  and  the  voice  of  those  rude  ages,  as  well 
as  of  a  more  enlightened  posterity,  has  united  in  branding  with 
everlasting  infamy  the  name  of  that  prince  who  did  not  hesitate 
to  purchase  the  security  of  his  own  title  by  the  public  execution 
of  an  honorable  competitor,  or  rather  a  rightful  claimant  of  the 
throne  he  had  usurped  (1268).  With  Conradin  the  house  of 
Suabia  was  extinguished ;  but  Constance,  the  daughter  of  Manfred, 
had  transported  his  right  to  Sicily  and  Naples  into  the  house  of 
Aragon,  by  her  marriage  with  Peter  III. 

This  success  of  a  monarch  selected  by  the  Roman  pontiffs  as 
their  particular  champion  turned  the  tide  of  faction  all  over  Italy. 
He  expelled  the  Ghibellines  from  Florence,  of  which  they  had  a 
few  years  before  obtained  a  complete  command  by  means  of  their 
memorable  victory  upon  the  River  Arbia.  After  the  fall  of  Con- 
radin that  party  was  everywhere  discouraged.  Germany  held  out 
small  hopes  of  support,  even  when  the  imperial  throne,  which  had 
long  been  vacant,  should  be  filled  by  one  of  her  princes.  The  popu- 
lace were  in  almost  every  city  attached  to  the  church  and  to  the 
name  of  Guelph ;  the  kings  of  Naples  employed  their  arms,  and  the 
Popes  their  excommunications;  so  that  for  the  remainder  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  name  of  Ghibelline  was  a  term  of  proscrip- 


216  ITALY 

1268-1277 

tion  in  the  majority  of  Lombard  and  Tuscan  republics.  Charles 
was  constituted  by  the  Pope  vicar-general  in  Tuscany.  This  was  a 
new  pretension  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  to  name  the  lieutenants  of 
the  Empire  during  its  vacancy,  which  indeed  could  not  be  com- 
pletely filled  up  without  their  consent.  It  soon,  however,  became  evi- 
dent that  he  aimed  at  the  sovereignty  of  Italy.  Some  of  the  Popes 
themselves,  Gregory  X.  and  Nicholas  IV.,  grew  jealous  of  their 
own  creature. 

Almost  all  the  Lombard  republics  had,  by  force  or  stratagem, 
or  free  consent,  already  fallen  under  the  yoke  of  some  leading  citi- 
zen, who  became  the  lord  (signorc),  or,  in  the  German  sense, 
tyrant  of  his  country.  The  first  instance  of  a  voluntary  delegation 
of  sovereignty  was  that  of  Ferrara,  which  placed  itself  under  the 
lord  of  Este.  Eccelin  made  himself  truly  the  tyrant  of  the  cities 
beyond  the  Adige;  and  such  experience  ought  naturally  to  have 
inspired  the  Italians  with  more  universal  abhorrence  of  despotism. 
But  every  danger  appeared  trivial  in  the  eyes  of  exasperated  factions 
when  compared  with  the  ascendency  of  their  adversaries.  Weary  of 
unceasing  and  useless  contests,  in  which  ruin  fell  with  an  alternate 
but  equal  hand  upon  either  party,  liberty  withdrew  from  a  people 
who  disgraced  her  name;  and  the  tumultuous,  the  brave,  the  in- 
tractable Lombards  became  eager  to  submit  themselves  to  a  master, 
and  patient  under  the  heaviest  oppression.  Or,  if  tyranny  some- 
times overstepped  the  limits  of  forbearance,  and  a  seditious  rising 
expelled  the  reigning  prince,  it  was  only  to  produce  a  change  of 
hands,  and  transfer  the  impotent  people  to  a  different  and  perhaps 
a  worse  despotism.  In  many  cities  not  a  conspiracy  was  planned, 
not  a  sigh  was  breathed,  in  favor  of  republican  government,  after 
once  they  had  passed  under  the  sway  of  a  single  person.  The 
progress,  indeed,  was  gradual,  though  sure,  from  limited  to  absolute, 
from  temporary  to  hereditary  power,  from  a  just  and  conciliating 
rule  to  extortion  and  cruelty.  But  before  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth century  at  the  latest  all  those  cities  which  had  spurned  at 
the  fairest  mark  of  submission  to  the  emperors  lost  even  the  recol- 
lection of  self-government,  and  were  bequeathed,  like  an  undoubted 
patrimony,  among  the  children  of  their  new  lords.  Such  is  the 
progress  of  usurpation,  and  such  the  vengeance  that  Heaven  re- 
serves for  those  who  waste  in  license  and  faction  its  first  of  social 
blessings,  liberty. 

The  city  most  distinguished,  in  both  wars  against  the  house 


RISE     OF     DESPOTS  217 

1277-1313 

of  Suabia,  for  an  unconquerable  attachment  to  republican  institu- 
tions, was  the  first  to  sacrifice  them  in  a  few  years  after  the  death 
of  Frederick  II.  Milan  had  for  a  considerable  time  been  agitated 
by  civil  dissensions  between  the  nobility  and  inferior  citizens.  These 
parties  were  pretty  equally  balanced,  and  their  success  was  conse- 
quently alternate.  Each  had  its  own  podesta,  as  a  party  leader, 
distinct  from  the  legitimate  magistrate  of  the  city.  In  consequence 
of  the  crime  of  a  nobleman,  who  had  murdered  one  of  his  creditors, 
the  two  parties  took  up  arms  in  1257.  A  civil  war,  of  various  suc- 
cess, and  interrupted  by  several  pacifications,  which  in  that  unhappy 
temper  could  not  be  durable,  was  terminated  in  about  two  years  by 
the  entire  discomfiture  of  the  aristocracy,  and  by  the  election  of 
Martin  della  Torre  as  chief  and  lord  (capitano  c  signore)  of  the 
people.  Though  the  Milanese  did  not,  probably,  intend  to  renounce 
the  sovereignty  resident  in  their  general  assemblies,  yet  they  soon 
lost  the  republican  spirit ;  five  in  succession  of  the  family  Delia  Torre 
might  be  said  to  reign  in  Milan ;  each,  indeed,  by  a  formal  election, 
but  with  an  implied  recognition  of  a  sort  of  hereditary  title.  Twenty 
years  afterward  the  Visconti,  a  family  of  opposite  interests,  sup- 
planted the  Torriani  at  Milan ;  and  the  rivalry  between  these  great 
houses  was  not  at  an  end  till  the  final  establishment  of  Matteo 
Visconti  in  13 13;  but  the  people  were  not  otherwise  considered 
than  as  aiding  by  force  the  one  or  other  party,  and  at  most  deciding 
between  the  pretensions  of  their  masters. 

The  vigor  and  concert  infused  into  the  Guelph  party  by  the 
successes  of  Charles  of  Anjou  was  not  very  durable.  The  prince 
was  soon  involved  in  a  protracted  and  unfortunate  quarrel  with  the 
kings  of  Aragon,  to  whose  protection  his  revolted  subjects  in  Italy 
had  recurred.  On  the  other  hand,  several  men  of  energetic  character 
retrieved  the  Ghibelline  interests  in  Lombardy,  and  even  in  the 
Tuscan  cities.  The  Visconti  were  acknowledged  heads  of  that  fac- 
tion. A  family  early  established  as  lords  of  Verona,  the  Della 
Scala,  maintained  the  credit  of  the  same  denomination  between  the 
Adige  and  the  Adriatic.  The  inferior  tyrants  were  partly  Guelph, 
partly  Ghibelline,  according  to  local  revolutions ;  but  upon  the 
whole,  the  latter  acquired  a  gradual  ascendency.  Those,  indeed, 
who  cared  for  the  independence  of  Italy,  or  for  their  own  power, 
had  far  less  to  fear  from  the  phantom  of  imperial  prerogatives, 
long  intermitted  and  incapable  of  being  enforced,  than  from  the 
new  race  of  foreign  princes  whom  the  church  had  substituted  for 


218  ITALY 

1313-1350 

the  house  of  Suabia.  The  Angevin  kings  of  Naples  were  sovereigns 
of  Provence,  and  from  there  easily  encroached  upon  Piedmont 
and  threatened  the  Milanese.  Robert,  the  third  of  this  line,  almost 
openly  aspired,  like  his  grandfather,  Charles  I.,  to  a  real  sovereignty 
over  Italy.  His  offers  of  assistance  to  Guelph  cities  in  war  were 
always  coupled  with  a  demand  of  the  sovereignty.  Many  yielded  to 
his  ambition,  and  even  Florence  twice  bestowed  upon  him  a  tem- 
porary dictatorship.  In  13 14  he  was  acknowledged  lord  of  Lucca, 
Florence,  Pavia,  Alessandria,  Bergamo,  and  the  cities  of  Romagna. 
In  13 18  the  Guelphs  of  Genoa  found  no  other  resource  against  the 
Ghibelline  emigrants  who  were  under  their  walls  than  to  resign 
their  liberties  to  the  King  of  Naples  for  the  term  of  ten  years, 
which  he  procured  to  be  renewed  for  six  more.  The  Avignon 
Popes,  especially  John  XXII.,  out  of  blind  hatred  to  the  Emperor 
Louis  of  Bavaria  and  the  Visconti  family,  abetted  all  these  meas- 
ures of  ambition.  But  they  were  rendered  abortive  by  Robert's 
death,  and  the  subsequent  disturbances  of  his  kingdom. 

At  the  latter  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  there  were  almost 
as  many  princes  in  the  north  of  Italy  as  there  had  been  free  cities 
in  the  preceding  age.  Their  equality,  and  the  frequent  domestic 
revolutions  which  made  their  seat  unsteady,  kept  them  for  a  while 
from  encroaching  on  each  other.  Gradually,  however,  they  became 
less  numerous ;  a  quantity  of  obscure  tyrants  were  swept  away  from 
the  smaller  cities;  and  the  people,  careless  or  hopeless  of  liberty, 
were  glad  to  change  the  rule  of  despicable  petty  usurpers  for  that 
of  more  distinguished  and  powerful  families.  About  the  year  1350 
the  central  parts  of  Lombardy  had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Visconti.  Four  other  houses  occupied  the  second  rank,  that 
of  Este  at  Ferrara  and  Modena ;  of  Scala  at  Verona ;  of  Carrara 
at  Padua,  which  later  than  any  Lombard  city  had  resigned  her  lib- 
erty ;  and  of  Gonzaga  at  Mantua,  which,  without  ever  obtaining  any 
material  extension  of  territory,  continued,  probably  for  that  reason, 
to  reign  undisturbed  till  the  eighteenth  century.  But  these  united 
were  hardly  a  match,  as  they  sometimes  experienced,  for  the  Vis- 
conti. That  family,  the  object  of  every  league  formed  in  Italy  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  in  constant  hostility  to  the  church,  and  well 
inured  to  interdicts  and  excommunications,  producing  no  one  man 
of  military  talents,  but  fertile  of  tyrants  detested  for  their  per- 
fidiousness  and  cruelty,  were  nevertheless  enabled,  with  almost 
uninterrupted  success,  to  add  city  after  city  to  the  dominion  of 


RISE     OF     DESPOTS  219 

1272-1350 

Milan,  till  it  absorbed  all  the  north  of  Italy.  Under  Gian  Galeazzo, 
whose  reign  began  in  1385,  the  viper  (their  armorial  bearing) 
assumed  indeed  a  menacing  attitude;1  he  overturned  the  great 
family  of  Scala,  and  annexed  their  extensive  possessions  to  his  own ; 
no  power  intervened  from  Vercelli,  in  Piedmont,  to  Feltre  and  Bel- 
luno;  while  the  free  cities  of  Tuscany,  Pisa,  Siena,  Perugia,  and 
even  Bologna,  as  if  by  a  kind  of  witchcraft,  voluntarily  called  in  a 
dissembling  tyrant  as  their  master.  At  length  the  Visconti  were 
tacitly  admitted  among  the  reigning  princes  by  the  erection  of  Milan 
into  a  duchy  under  letters  patent  of  the  Emperor  Wenceslaus 

in  1395- 

The  imperial  authority  over  Italy  was  almost  entirely  sus- 
pended after  the  death  of  Frederick  II.  A  long  interregnum  fol- 
lowed in  Germany ;  and  when  the  vacancy  was  supplied  by  Rodolph 
of  Hapsburg  in  1272,  he  was  too  prudent  to  dissipate  his  moderate 
resources  where  the  great  house  of  Suabia  had  failed.  About  forty 
years  afterward  the  emperor,  Henry  VII.  of  Luxemburg  (1308), 
a  prince,  like  Rodolph,  of  small  hereditary  possessions,  but  active 
and  discreet,  availed  himself  of  the  ancient  respect  borne  to  the 
imperial  name,  and  the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  Italians,  to  recover 
for  a  very  short  time  a  remarkable  influence,  thus  arousing  the 
ardent  hopes  of  Dante  for  the  restoration  of  order  in  Italy,  so  that 
he  wrote  a  circular  letter  to  the  princes  of  Italy  to  tell  them  that 
the  "  compassionate  Henry,  glory  of  his  people,  the  godlike  Caesar 
and  Augustus,"  was  coming  to  Italy,  there  to  settle  all  things,  as 
the  ideal  universal  monarch  of  Dante's  dream.  But  though  pro- 
fessing neutrality  and  desire  of  union  between  the  Guelphs  and 
Ghibellines,  he  could  not  succeed  in  removing  the  disgust  of  the 
former;  his  exigencies  impelled  him  to  large  demands  of  money; 
and  the  Italians,  when  they  counted  his  scanty  German  cavalry, 
perceived  that  obedience  was  altogether  a  matter  of  their  own  choice. 
Henry  died,  however,  in  time  to  save  himself  from  any  decisive  re- 
verse. His  successors,  Louis  of  Bavaria  and  Charles  IV.,  descended 
from  the  Alps  with  similar  motives,  but  after  some  temporary  good 
fortune  were  obliged  to  return,  not  "without  discredit.  Yet  the 
Italians  never  broke  that  almost  invisible  thread  which  connected 
them  with  Germany;  the  fallacious  name  of  Roman  emperor  still 

1  Allusions  to  heraldry  are  very  common  in  the  Italian  writers.  All  the 
historians  of  the  fourteenth  century  habitually  use  the  viper,  il  biscione,  as  a 
synonym  for  the  power  of  Milan. 


220  ITALY 

1278-1355 

challenged  their  allegiance,  though  conferred  by  seven  Teutonic 
electors  without  their  concurrence.  Even  Florence,  the  most  in- 
dependent and  high-spirited  of  republics,  was  induced  to  make  a 
treaty  with  Charles  IV.  in  1355,  which,  while  it  confirmed  all  her 
actual  liberties,  not  a  little,  by  that  very  confirmation,  affected  her 
sovereignty.  This  deference  to  the  supposed  prerogatives  of  the  Em- 
pire, even  while  they  were  least  formidable,  was  partly  owing  to 
jealousy  of  French  or  Neapolitan  interference,  partly  to  the  national 
hatred  of  the  Popes  who  had  seceded  to  Avignon,  and  in  some 
degree  to  a  misplaced  respect  for  antiquity,  to  which  the  revival 
of  letters  had  given  birth.  The  great  civilians,  and  the  much 
greater  poets,  of  the  fourteenth  century,  taught  Italy  to  consider 
her  emperor  as  a  dormant  sovereign,  to  whom  her  various  princi- 
palities and  republics  were  subordinate,  and  during  whose  absence 
alone  they  had  legitimate  authority. 

In  one  part,  however,  of  that  country,  the  Empire  had,  soon 
after  the  commencement  of  this  period,  spontaneously  renounced 
its  sovereignty.  From  the  era  of  Pipin's  donation,  confirmed  and 
extended  by  many  subsequent  charters,  the  Floly  See  had  tolerably 
just  pretensions  to  the  province  entitled  Romagna,  or  the  exarchate 
of  Ravenna.  But  the  Popes,  whose  menaces  were  dreaded  at  the 
extremities  of  Europe,  were  still  very  weak  as  temporal  princes. 
Even  Innocent  III.  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  possession  of  this 
part  of  St.  Peter's  patrimony.  The  circumstances  of  Rodolph's 
accession  inspired  Nicholas  III.  with  more  confidence.  That  em- 
peror granted  a  confirmation  of  everything  included  in  the  dona- 
tions of  Louis  I.,  Otho,  and  his  other  predecessors,  but  was  still 
reluctant  or  ashamed  to  renounce  his  imperial  rights.  Accordingly, 
his  charter  is  expressed  to  be  granted  without  diminution  of  the 
Empire  (sine  demembratione  imperii)  ;  and  his  chancellor  received 
an  oath  of  fidelity  from  the  cities  of  Romagna.  But  the  Pope 
insisting  firmly  on  his  own  claim,  Rodolph  discreetly  avoided  in- 
volving himself  in  a  fatal  quarrel,  and,  in  1278,  absolutely  released 
the  imperial  supremacy  over  all  the  dominions  already  granted  to 
the  Holy  See. 

This  is  a  leading  epoch  in  the  temporal  monarchy  of  Rome. 
But  she  stood  only  in  the  place  of  the  emperor;  and  her  ultimate 
sovereignty  was  compatible  with  the  practicable  independence  of 
the  free  cities,  or  of  the  usurpers  who  had  risen  up  among  them. 
Bologna,  Faenza,  Rimini,  and  Ravenna,  with  many  others  less  con- 


RISE     OF     DESPOTS  221 

1155-1356 

siderable,  took  an  oath,  indeed,  to  the  Pope,  but  continued  to  regu- 
late both  their  internal  concerns  and  foreign  relations  at  their  own 
discretion.  The  first  of  these  cities  was  far  preeminent  above  the 
rest  for  population  and  renown,  and,  though  not  without  several 
intermissions,  preserved  a  republican  character  to  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  rest  were  soon  enslaved  by  petty  tyrants, 
more  obscure  than  those  of  Lombardy.  It  was  not  easy  for  the 
pontiffs  of  Avignon  to  reinstate  themselves  in  a  dominion  which 
they  seemed  to  have  abandoned;  but  they  made  several  attempts 
to  recover  it,  sometimes  with  spiritual  arms,  sometimes  with  the 
more  efficacious  aid  of  mercenary  troops.  The  annals  of  this  part 
of  Italy  are  peculiarly  uninteresting. 

Rome  itself  was,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  very  little  dis- 
posed to  acquiesce  in  the  government  of  her  bishop.  His  rights  were 
indefinite,  and  uncomfirmed  by  positive  law ;  the  emperor  was  long 
sovereign ;  the  people  always  meant  to  be  free.  Besides  the  common 
causes  of  insubordination  and  anarchy  among  the  Italians,  which 
applied  equally  to  the  capital  city,  other  sentiments  more  peculiar 
to  Rome  preserved  a  continual  though  not  uniform  influence  for 
many  centuries.  There  still  remained  enough  in  the  wreck  of  that 
vast  inheritance  to  swell  the  bosoms  of  her  citizens  with  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  own  dignity.  They  bore  the  venerable  name,  they  con- 
templated the  monuments  of  art  and  empire,  and  forgot,  in  the 
illusions  of  national  pride,  that  the  tutelar  gods  of  the  building  were 
departed  forever.  About  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  these 
recollections  were  heightened  by  the  eloquence  of  Arnold  of  Brescia, 
a  political  heretic  who  preached  against  the  temporal  jurisdiction 
of  the  hierarchy.  In  a  temporary  intoxication  of  fancy  they  were 
led  to  make  a  ridiculous  show  of  self-importance  toward  Frederick 
Barbarossa  when  he  came  to  receive  the  imperial  crown,  but  the  Ger- 
man sternly  chided  their  ostentation,  and  chastised  their  resistance. 
With  the  Popes  they  could  deal  more  securely.  Several  of  them 
were  expelled  from  Rome  during  that  age  by  the  seditious  citizens. 
Lucius  II.  died  of  hurts  received  in  a  tumult.  The  government 
was  vested  in  fifty-six  senators,  annually  chosen  by  the  people 
through  the  intervention  of  an  electoral  body,  ten  delegates  from 
each  of  the  thirteen  districts  of  the  city.  This  constitution  lasted 
not  quite  fifty  years.  In  1192  Rome  imitated  the  prevailing  fashion 
by  the  appointment  of  an  annual  foreign  magistrate.  Except  in 
name,  the  senator  of  Rome  appears  to  have  perfectly  resembled  the 


222  ITALY 

1253-1356 

podesta  of  other  cities.  This  magistrate  superseded  the  representa- 
tive Senate,  who  had  proved  by  no  means  adequate  to  control  the 
most  lawless  aristocracy  of  Italy.  I  shall  not  repeat  the  story  of 
Brancaleone's  rigorous  and  inflexible  justice,  which  a  great  historian 
has  already  drawn  from  obscurity.  It  illustrates  not  the  annals  of 
Rome  alone,  but  the  general  state  of  Italian  society,  the  nature  of 
a  podesta's  duty,  and  the  difficulties  of  its  execution.  In  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  the  Senate,  and  the  senator  who  succeeded 
them,  exercised  one  distinguishing  attribute  of  sovereignty,  that  of 
coining  gold  and  silver  money.  Some  of  their  coins  still  exist,  with 
legends  in  a  very  republican  tone.  Doubtless  the  temporal  authority 
of  the  Popes  varied  according  to  their  personal  character.  Inno- 
cent III.  had  much  more  than  his  predecessors  for  almost  a  century, 
or  than  some  of  his  successors.  He  made  the  senator  take  an  oath 
of  fealty  to  him,  which,  though  not  very  comprehensive,  must  have 
passed  in  those  times  as  a  recognition  of  his  superiority.  The 
whole  subject  is  really  somewhat  doubtful,  for  it  cannot  be  said 
just  what  the  legal  government  of  Rome  was  throughout  this 
period. 

Though  there  was  much  less  obedience  to  any  legitimate  power 
at  Rome  than  anywhere  else  in  Italy,  even  during  the  thirteenth 
century,  yet,  after  the  secession  of  the  Popes  to  Avignon,  their  own 
city  was  left  in  a  far  worse  condition  than  before.  Disorders  of 
every  kind,  tumult  and  robbery,  prevailed  in  the  streets.  The 
Roman  nobility  were  engaged  in  perpetual  war  with  each  other. 
Not  content  with  their  own  fortified  palaces,  they  turned  the  sacred 
monuments  of  antiquity  into  strongholds,  and  consummated  the 
destruction  of  time  and  conquest.  At  no  period  has  the  city  en- 
dured such  irreparable  injuries ;  nor  was  the  downfall  of  the  West- 
ern Empire  so  fatal  to  its  capital  as  the  contemptible  feuds  of  the 
Orsini  and  Colonna  families.  Whatever  there  was  of  government, 
whether  administered  by  a  legate  from  Avignon  or  by  the  municipal 
authorities,  had  lost  all  hold  on  these  powerful  barons.  In  the 
midst  of  this  degradation  and  wretchedness,  an  obscure  man,  Nicola 
di  Rienzi,  conceived  the  project  of  restoring  Rome,  not  only  to  good 
order,  but  even  to  her  ancient  greatness  (1347).  He  had  received 
an  education  beyond  his  birth,  and  nourished  his  mind  with  the 
study  of  the  best  writers.  After  many  harangues  to  the  people, 
which  the  nobility,  blinded  by  their  self-confidence,  did  not  attempt 
to  repress,  Rienzi  suddenly  excited  an  insurrection,  and  obtained 


COLA    DI    RIEXZI    ELECTED    THE    LAST    ROMAN"    TRintXE    ON" 
HILL,     ROME.     1347     A.  I). 


THE    CAHTOI.IXE 


RISE     OF     DESPOTS  223 

1347-1356 

complete  success.  He  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  new  government, 
with  the  title  of  Tribune,  and  with  almost  unlimited  power.  The 
first  effects  of  this  revolution  were  wonderful.  All  the  nobles  sub- 
mitted, though  with  great  reluctance;  the  roads  were  cleared  of 
robbers;  tranquillity  was  restored  at  home;  some  severe  examples 
of  justice  intimidated  offenders;  and  the  tribune  was  regarded  by- 
all  the  people  as  the  destined  restorer  of  Rome  and  Italy.  Though 
the  court  of  Avignon  could  not  approve  of  such  an  usurpation,  it 
temporized  enough  not  directly  to  oppose  it.  Most  of  the  Italian 
republics,  and  some  of  the  princes,  sent  ambassadors,  and  seemed  to 
recognize  pretensions  which  were  tolerably  ostentatious.  The  King 
of  Hungary  and  Queen  of  Naples  submitted  their  quarrel  to  the 
arbitration  of  Rienzi,  who  did  not,  however,  undertake  to  decide 
upon  it.  But  this  sudden  exaltation  intoxicated  his  understanding, 
and  exhibited  failings  entirely  incompatible  with  his  elevated  con- 
dition. If  Rienzi  had  lived  in  our  own  age,  his  talents,  which  were 
really  great,  would  have  found  their  proper  orbit ;  for  his  character 
was  one  not  unusual  among  literary  politicians — a  combination  of 
knowledge,  eloquence,  and  enthusiasm  for  ideal  excellence,  with 
vanity,  inexperience  of  mankind,  unsteadiness,  and  physical  timidity. 
As  these  latter  qualities  became  conspicuous,  they  eclipsed  his  virtues 
and  caused  his  benefits  to  be  forgotten;  he  was  compelled  to  abdi- 
cate his  government,  and  retire  into  exile.  After  several  years, 
some  of  which  he  passed  in  the  prisons  of  Avignon,  Rienzi  was 
brought  back  to  Rome,  with  the  title  of  senator,  and  under  the 
command  of  the  legate.  It  was  supposed  that  the  Romans,  who 
had  returned  to  their  habits  of  insubordination,  would  gladly  sub- 
mit to  their  favorite  tribune.  And  this  proved  the  case  for  a  few 
months,  but  after  that  time  they  ceased  altogether  to  respect  a  man 
who  so  little  respected  himself  in  accepting  a  station  where  he  could 
no  longer  be  free ;  and  Rienzi  was  killed  in  a  sedition.  2 

Once  more,  not  long  after  the  death  of  Rienzi,  the  freedom  of 
Rome  seems  to  have  revived  in  republican  institutions,  though  with 
names  less  calculated  to  inspire  peculiar  recollections.  Magis- 
trates, called  bannerets,  chosen  from  the  thirteen  districts  of  the 
city,  with  a  militia  of  three  thousand  citizens  at  their  command, 
were  placed  at  the  head  of  this  commonwealth.     The  great  object 

2  An  illustrious  female  writer  has  drawn  with  a  single  stroke  the  character 
of  Rienzi,  Crescentius,  and  Arnold  of  Brescia,  the  fond  restorers  of  Roman  lib- 
erty, qui  ont  pris  les  souvenirs  pour  Irs  esperances.  (Madame  de  Stael, 
"  Corinne,"  vol.  i.  p.   159.)     Could  Tacitus  have  excelled  this? 


224  I  T  A  L  Y 

1356 

of  this  new  organization  was  to  intimidate  the  Roman  nobility, 
whose  outrages,  in  the  total  absence  of  government,  had  grown 
intolerable.  Several  of  them  were  hanged  the  first  year  by  order 
of  the  bannerets.  In  1435  the  Romans  formally  took  away  the 
government  from  Eugenius  IV.,  and  elected  seven  signors,  or  chief 
magistrates,  like  the  priors  of  Florence.  But  this  revolution  was 
not  of  long  continuance,  and  the  citizens  soon  after  acknowledged 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Pope. 


Chapter   XXXI 

FLORENCE   AND    PISA.     1 150-1406 

THE  province  of  Tuscany  continued  longer  than  Lombardy 
under  imperial  government.  Not  until  about  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century  did  the  cities  of  Florence,  Lucca, 
Pisa,  Siena,  Arezzo,  Pistoja,  and  several  less  considerable,  al- 
ready, perhaps  with  their  own  elected  magistrates,  become  inde- 
pendent republics.  During  the  reign  of  Frederick  II.  Florence 
became,  as  far  as  she  was  able,  an  ally  of  the  Popes.  There 
was,  indeed,  a  strong  Ghibelline  party,  comprehending  many  of 
the  greatest  families,  but  the  spirit  of  the  people  was  thoroughly 
Guelph.  After  several  revolutions,  accompanied  by  alternate  pro- 
scription and  demolition  of  houses,  the  Guelph  party,  through  the 
assistance  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  obtained  a  final  ascendency  in  1266; 
and  after  one  or  two  unavailing  schemes  of  accommodation  it  was 
established  as  a  fundamental  law  in  the  Florentine  constitution  that 
no  person  of  Ghibelline  ancestry  could  be  admitted  to  offices  of 
public  trust,  which,  in  such  a  government,  was  in  effect  an  exclusion 
from  the  privileges  of  citizenship. 

The  changes  of  internal  government  and  vicissitudes  of  suc- 
cess among  factions  were  so  frequent  at  Florence,  for  many  years 
after  this  time,  that  she  is  compared  by  her  great  banished  poet  to 
one  in  sickness,  who,  unable  to  rest,  gives  herself  momentary  ease 
by  continual  change  of  posture  in  her  bed.  They  did  not  become 
much  less  numerous  after  the  age  of  Dante.  Yet  the  revolutions 
of  Florence  should,  perhaps,  be  considered  as  no  more  than  a 
necessary  price  of  her  liberty.  It  was  her  boast  and  her  happiness 
to  have  escaped,  except  for  one  short  period,  that  odious  rule  of  vile 
usurpers,  under  which  so  many  other  free  cities  had  been  crushed. 
A  sketch  of  the  constitution  of  so  famous  a  republic  ought  not  to 
be  omitted  in  this  place.  Nothing  else  in  the  history  of  Italy  after 
Frederick  II.  is  so  worthy  of  our  attention. 

The  basis  of  the  Florentine  polity  was  a  division  of  the  citi- 

225 


226  ITALY 

1266-1324 

zens  exercising  commerce  into  their  several  companies  or  arts. 
These  were  at  first  twelve,  seven  called  the  greater  arts  and  five 
lesser,  but  the  latter  were  gradually  increased  to  fourteen.  The 
seven  greater  arts  were  those  of  lawyers  and  notaries,  of  dealers 
in  foreign  cloth,  called  sometimes  Calimala,  of  bankers  or  money- 
changers, of  woolen-drapers,  of  physicians  and  druggists,  of  dealers 
in  silk,  and  of  furriers.  The  inferior  arts  were  those  of  retailers 
of  cloth,  butchers,  smiths,  shoemakers,  and  builders.  This  division 
was  fully  established  and  rendered  essential  to  the  constitution  in 
1266.  By  the  provisions  made  in  that  year  each  of  the  seven  greater 
arts  had  a  council  of  its  own,  a  chief  magistrate  or  consul,  who 
administered  justice  in  civil  causes  to  all  members  of  his  company, 
and  a  banneret  (gonfaloniere)  or  military  officer,  to  whose  standard 
they  repaired  when  any  attempt  was  made  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  city. 

The  administration  of  criminal  justice  belonged  at  Florence, 
as  at  other  cities,  to  a  foreign  podesta,  or  rather  to  two  foreign 
magistrates,  the  podesta  and  the  capitano  del  popolo,  whose  juris- 
diction appears  to  have  been  concurrent.  These  officers  were  pre- 
served till  the  innovations  of  the  Medici.  The  domestic  magis- 
tracies underwent  more  changes.  Instead  of  consuls,  which  had 
been  the  first  denomination  of  the  chief  magistrates  of  Florence,  a 
college  of  twelve  or  fourteen  persons  called  Ansiani  or  Buonuomini, 
but  varying  in  name  as  well  as  number,  according  to  revolutions  of 
party,  was  established  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
to  direct  public  affairs.  This  order  was  entirely  changed  in  1282, 
and  gave  place  to  a  new  form  of  supreme  magistracy,  which  lasted 
till  the  extinction  of  the  republic.  Six  priors,  elected  every  two 
months,  one  from  each  of  the  six  quarters  of  the  city,  and  from 
each  of  the  greater  arts,  except  that  of  lawyers,  constituted  an 
executive  magistracy.  They  lived  during  their  continuance  in  office 
in  a  palace  belonging  to  the  city,  and  were  maintained  at  the  public 
cost  The  actual  priors,  jointly  with  the  chiefs  and  councils 
(usually  called  la  Capitudine)  of  the  seven  greater  arts,  and  with 
certain  adjuncts  (arroti)  named  by  themselves,  elected  by  ballot 
their  successors.  Such  was  the  practice  for  about  forty  years  after 
this  government  was  established.  But  an  innovation,  begun  in 
1324,  and  perfected  four  years  afterward,  gave  peculiar  char- 
acter to  the  constitution  of  Florence.  A  lively  and  ambitious  peo- 
ple, not  merely  jealous  of  their  public  sovereignty,  but  deeming 


FLORENCE     AND     PISA  227 

1266-1324 

its  exercise  a  matter  of  personal  enjoyment,  aware  at  the  same 
time  that  the  will  of  the  whole  body  could  neither  be  immediately 
expressed  on  all  occasions  nor  even  through  chosen  representatives, 
without  the  risk  of  violence  and  partiality,  fell  upon  the  singular 
idea  of  admitting  all  citizens  not  unworthy  by  their  station  or  con- 
duct to  offices  of  magistracy  by  rotation.  Lists  were  separately 
made  out  by  the  priors,  the  twelve  buonuomini,  the  chiefs  and  coun- 
cils of  arts,  the  bannerets  and  other  respectable  persons,  of  all  citi- 
zens, Guelphs  by  origin,  turned  of  thirty  years  of  age,  and,  in  their 
judgment,  worthy  of  public  trust.  The  lists  thus  formed  were  then 
united,  and  those  who  had  composed  them,  meeting  together,  in 
number  ninety-seven,  proceeded  to  ballot  upon  every  name.  Who- 
ever obtained  sixty-eight  black  balls  was  placed  upon  the  reformed 
list ;  and  all  the  names  it  contained  being  put  on  separate  tickets  into 
a  bag  or  purse  (imborstia),  were  drawn  successively  as  the  magis- 
tracies were  renewed.  As  there  were  above  fifty  of  these,  none  of 
which  could  be  held  for  more  than  four  months,  several  hundred 
citizens  were  called  in  rotation  to  bear  their  share  in  the  government 
within  two  years.  But  at  the  expiration  of  every  two  years  the 
scrutiny  was  renewed,  and  fresh  names  were  mingled  with  those 
which  still  continued  undrawn ;  so  that  accident  might  deprive  a  man 
for  life  of  his  portion  of  magistracy. 

Four  councils  had  been  established  by  the  constitution  of  1266 
for  the  decision  of  all  propositions  laid  before  them  by  the  execu- 
tive magistrates,  whether  of  a  legislative  nature  or  relating  to  pub- 
lic policy.  These  were  now  abrogated :  and  in  their  places  were 
substituted  one  of  300  members,  all  plebeians,  called  consiglio  di 
popolo,  and  one  of  250,  called  consiglio  di  commune,  into  which 
the  nobles  might  enter.  These  were  changed  by  the  same  rotation 
as  the  magistracies,  every  four  months.  A  parliament,  or  general 
assembly  of  the  Florentine  people,  was  rarely  convoked;  but  the 
leading  principle  of  a  democratic  republic,  the  ultimate  sover- 
eignty of  the  multitude,  was  not  forgotten.  This  constitution  of 
1324  was  fixed  by  the  citizens  at  large  in  a  parliament;  and  the 
same  sanction  was  given  to  those  temporary  delegations  of  the 
seigniory  to  a  prince  which  occasionally  took  place.  What  is  tech- 
nically called  by  their  historians  forsi  popolo  was  the  assembly  of 
a  parliament,  or  a  resolution  of  all  derivative  powers  into  the  im- 
mediate operation  of  the  popular  will. 

The  ancient  government  of  this  republic  appears  to  have  been 


228  ITALY 

1266-1324 

chiefly  in  the  hands  of  its  nobility.  These  were  very  numerous,  and 
possessed  large  estates  in  the  district.  But  by  the  constitution  of 
1266,  which  was  nearly  coincident  with  the  triumph  of  the  Guelph 
faction,  the  essential  powers  of  magistracy  as  well  as  of  legislation 
were  thrown  into  the  scale  of  the  commons.  The  colleges  of  arts, 
whose  functions  became  so  eminent,  were  altogether  commercial, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  belong  to  one  or  other  of  the  greater  arts 
in  order  to  be  admitted  into  the  executive  college  of  the  priors. 
Many,  indeed,  of  the  nobles  enrolled  themselves  in  these  com- 
panies, and  were  among  the  most  conspicuous  merchants  of  Flor- 
ence; but  the  majority  of  the  ancient  families  saw  themselves 
pushed  aside  from  the  helm,  which  was  intrusted  to  a  class  whom 
they  had  habitually  held  in  contempt. 

The  nobility,  however,  set  the  new  constitution  at  defiance, 
and  dwelling  in  strong  and  lofty  houses  among  their  kindred,  and 
among  the  fellows  of  their  rank,  committed  all  sorts  of  outrages 
with  impunity.  At  length  in  1295,  Giano  della  Bella,  a  man  of 
ancient  lineage,  but  attached  to  the  popular  side,  introduced  a  series 
of  enactments  exceedingly  disadvantageous  to  the  ancient  aristoc- 
racy. The  first  of  these  was  the  appointment  of  an  executive  of- 
ficer, the  gonfalonier  of  justice,  whose  duty  it  was  to  enforce  the 
sentences  of  the  podesta  and  capitano  del  popolo  in  cases  where  the 
ordinary  officers  were  insufficient.  A  thousand  citizens,  afterward 
increased  to  four  times  that  number,  were  bound  to  obey  his  com- 
mands. They  were  distributed  into  companies,  the  gonfaloniers 
or  captains  of  which  became  a  sort  of  corporation  or  college,  and  a 
constituent  part  of  the  government.  This  new  militia  seems  to  have 
superseded  that  of  the  companies  of  arts.  The  gonfalonier  of  jus- 
tice was  part  of  the  seigniory  along  with  the  priors,  of  whom  he  was 
reckoned  the  president,  and  changed,  like  them,  every  two  months. 
He  was,  in  fact,  the  first  magistrate  of  Florence.  If  Giano  della 
Bella  had  trusted  to  the  efficacy  of  this  new  security  for  justice,  his 
fame  would  have  been  beyond  reproach.  But  he  followed  it  up  by 
harsher  provisions.  The  nobility  were  now  made  absolutely  ineligi- 
ble to  the  office  of  prior.  For  an  offense  committed  by  one  of  a 
noble  family,  his  relations  were  declared  responsible  in  a  penalty  of 
$15,000.  And,  to  obviate  the  difficulty  arising  from  the  frequent 
intimidation  of  witnesses,  it  was  provided  that  common  fame,  at- 
tested by  two  credible  persons,  should  be  sufficient  for  the  con- 
demnation of  a  nobleman. 


FLORENCE     AND     PISA  229 

1324-1340 

These  are  the  famous  ordinances  of  justice  which  passed  at 
Florence  for  the  great  charter  of  her  democracy. 

The  nobility  were  soon  aware  of  the  position  in  which  they 
stood.  For  half  a  century  their  great  object  was  to  procure  the 
relaxation  of  the  ordinances  of  justice.  But  they  had  no  success 
with  an  elated  enemy.  The  sort  of  proscription  which  attended 
the  ancient  nobles  lowered  their  spirit;  while  a  new  aristocracy 
began  to  raise  its  head,  the  aristocracy  of  families,  who,  after  filling 
the  highest  magistracies  for  two  or  three  generations,  obtained  an 
hereditary  importance,  which  answered  the  purpose  of  more  un- 
equivocal nobility;  just  as  in  ancient  Rome  plebeian  families,  by 
admission  to  curule  offices,  acquired  the  character  and  appellation 
of  nobility,  and  were  only  distinguishable  by  their  genealogy  from 
the  original  patricians.  Florence  had  her  plebeian  nobles  {popolani 
grandi)  as  well  as  Rome;  the  Peruzzi,  the  Ricci,  the  Albizi,  the 
Medici,  correspond  to  the  Catos,  the  Pompeys,  the  Brutuses,  and 
the  Antonies.  But  at  Rome  the  two  orders,  after  an  equal  parti- 
tion of  the  highest  offices,  were  content  to  respect  their  mutual  privi- 
leges; at  Florence  the  commoners  preserved  a  rigorous  monopoly, 
and  the  distinction  of  high  birth  was  that  it  debarred  men  from 
political  franchises  and  civil  justice. 

This  second  aristocracy  did  not  obtain  much  more  of  the  pop- 
ular affection  than  that  which  it  superseded.  In  order  to  keep 
the  nobles  under  more  control  the  governing  party  more  than  once 
introduced  a  new  foreign  magistrate,  with  the  title  of  captain  of 
defense  {della  guardia),  whom  they  invested  with  an  almost  un- 
bounded criminal  jurisdiction.  One  Gabrielli  of  Agobbio  was  twice 
fetched  for  this  purpose  (1336,  1340)  ;  and  in  each  case  he  behaved 
in  so  tyrannical  a  manner  as  to  occasion  a  tumult.  His  office,  how- 
ever, was  of  short  duration,  and  the  title  at  least  did  not  import 
a  sovereign  command.  But  very  soon  afterward  Florence  had  to 
experience  one  taste  of  a  cup  which  her  neighbors  had  drunk  off 
to  the  dregs,  and  to  animate  her  magnanimous  love  of  freedom  by 
a  knowledge  of  the  calamities  of  tyranny. 

A  war  with  Pisa,  unsuccessfully,  if  not  unskillfully,  conducted, 
gave  rise  to  such  dissatisfaction  in  the  city  that  the  leading  com- 
moners had  recourse  to  an  appointment  something  like  that  of 
Gabrielli,  and  from  similar  motives.  Walter  de  Brienne,  Duke  of 
Athens,  was  descended  from  one  of  the  French  crusaders  who 
had  dismembered  the  Grecian  Empire  in  the  preceding  century ;  but 


230  ITALY 

1340-1344 

his  father,  defeated  in  battle,  had  lost  the  principality  along  with 
his  life,  and  the  titular  duke  was  an  adventurer  in  the  court  of 
France.     He  had  been,  however,  slightly  known  at  Florence  on  a 
former  occasion.     There  was  a  uniform  maxim  among  the  Italian 
republics  that  extraordinary  powers  should  be  conferred  upon  none 
but  strangers.    The  Duke  of  Athens  was  accordingly  pitched  upon 
for  the  military  command,  which  was  united  with  domestic  juris- 
diction.    This  appears  to  have  been  promoted  by  the  governing 
party  in  order  to  curb  the  nobility;  but  they  were  soon  unde- 
ceived in  their  expectations.     The  first  act  of  the  Duke  of  Athens 
was  to  bring  four  of  the  most  eminent  commoners  to  capital  pun- 
ishment for  military  offenses.     These  sentences,  whether  just  or 
otherwise,  gave  much  pleasure  to  the  nobles,  who  had  so  frequently 
been  exposed  to  similar  severity,  and  to  the  populace,  who  are 
naturally  pleased  with   the  humiliation  of  their  superiors.     Both 
of  these  were  caressed  by  the  duke,  and  both  conspired,  with  blind 
passion,  to  second  his  ambitious  views.     It  was  proposed  and  car- 
ried in  a  full  parliament,  or  assembly  of  the  people,  to  bestow  upon 
him  the  seigniory  for  life  (1342).    The  real  friends  of  their  coun- 
try, as  well  as  the  oligarchy,  shuddered  at  this  measure.     Through- 
out all  the  vicissitudes  of  party,  Florence  had  never  yet  lost  sight 
of  republican  institutions.     But  happily  the  reign  of  tyranny  was 
very  short.     The  Duke  of  Athens  had  neither  judgment  nor  activity 
for  so  difficult  a  station.     He  launched  out  at  once  into  excesses 
which  it  would  be  desirable  that  arbitrary  power  should  always 
commit  at  the  outset.    The  taxes  were  considerably  increased ;  their 
produce  was  dissipated.     The  honor  of  the  state  was  sacrificed  by 
an  inglorious  treaty  with  Pisa ;  her  territory  was  diminished  by 
some  towns  throwing  off  their  dependence.     Severe  and  multiplied 
punishments  spread  terror  through  the  city.    Ten  months  passed  in 
this  manner,  when  three  separate  conspiracies,  embracing  most  of 
the  nobility  and  of  the  great  commoners,  were  planned  for  the  re- 
covery of  freedom.     The  city  was  barricaded  in  every  direction; 
and  after  a  contest  of  some  duration  the  Duke  of  Athens  consented 
to  abdicate  his  seigniory. 

Thus  Florence  recovered  her  liberty.  Her  constitutional  laws 
now  seemed  to  revive  of  themselves.  But  the  nobility,  who  had 
taken  a  very  active  part  in  the  recent  liberation  of  their  country, 
thought  it  hard  to  be  still  placed  under  the  rigorous  ordinances  of 
justice.    The  populace  of  Florence,  with  its  characteristic  forgetful- 


FLORENCE     AND     PISA  231 

1344-1357 

ness  of  benefits,  was  tenacious  of  those  prescriptive  ordinances.  A 
new  civil  war  in  the  city  streets  decided  their  quarrel ;  after  a  des- 
perate resistance,  many  of  the  principal  houses  were  pillaged  and 
burned;  and  the  perpetual  exclusion  of  the  nobility  was  confirmed 
by  fresh  laws.  But  the  people,  now  sure  of  their  triumph,  relaxed 
a  little  upon  this  occasion  the  ordinances  of  justice;  and,  to  make 
some  distinction  in  favor  of  merit  or  innocence,  effaced  certain 
families  from  the  list  of  nobility.  Five  hundred  and  thirty  persons 
were  thus  elevated,  as  we  may  call  it,  to  the  rank  of  commoners. 
Conversely,  several  unpopular  commoners  were  ennobled,  in  order 
to  disfranchise  them.  Nothing  was  more  usual  in  subsequent  times 
than  such  an  arbitrary  change  of  rank,  as  a  penalty  or  a  benefit. 
Those  nobles  who  were  rendered  plebeian  by  favor  were  obliged  to 
change  their  name  and  arms.  The  constitution  now  underwent 
some  change.  From  six  the  priors  were  increased  to  eight;  and 
instead  of  being  chosen  from  each  of  the  greater  arts,  they  were 
taken  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  city.  The  gonfaloniers  of  com- 
panies were  reduced  to  sixteen.  And  these,  along  with  the  seigniory 
and  the  twelve  buonuomini,  formed  the  college,  where  every  propo- 
sition was  discussed  before  it  could  be  offered  to  the  councils  for 
their  legislative  sanction.  But  it  could  only  originate,  strictly 
speaking,  in  the  seigniory,  that  is,  the  gonfalonier  of  justice,  and 
eight  priors,  the  rest  of  the  college  having  merely  the  function  of 
advice  and  assistance. 

Several  years  elapsed  before  any  material  disturbance  arose  at 
Florence;  but  in  1357  a  spring  was  set  in  motion  which  gave  quite 
a  different  character  to  the  domestic  history  of  Florence.  At  the 
time  when  the  Guelphs,  with  the  assistance  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  ac- 
quired an  exclusive  domination  in  the  republic,  the  estates  of  the 
Ghibellines  were  confiscated.  One-third  of  these  confiscations  was 
allotted  to  the  state;  another  went  to  repair  the  losses  of  Guelph 
citizens ;  but  the  remainder  became  the  property  of  a  new  corporate 
society,  denominated  the  Guelph  party  (parte  Guelfa),  with  a  regu- 
lar internal  organization.  The  Guelph  party  had  two  councils,  one 
of  fourteen  and  one  of  sixty  members ;  three,  or  afterward,  four, 
captains,  elected  by  scrutiny  every  two  months,  a  treasury,  and 
common  seal — a  little  republic  within  the  republic  of  Florence. 
Their  primary  duty  was  to  watch  over  the  Guelph  interest ;  and  for 
this  purpose  they  had  a  particular  officer  for  the  accusation  of  sus- 
pected Ghibellines.    We  hear  not  much,  however,  of  the  Guelph  so- 


232  ITALY 

1357-1372 

ciety  for  near  a  century  after  their  establishment;  but  they  now 
began  to  execute  a  preponderating  influence  in  the  state.  In  this 
society  the  ancient  nobles  retained  a  considerable  influence.  The  laws 
of  exclusion  had  never  been  applied  to  that  corporation.  Two  of 
the  captains  were  always  noble,  two  were  commoners.  The 
people,  in  debarring  the  nobility  from  ordinary  privileges,  were 
little  aware  of  the  more  dangerous  channel  which  had  been  left 
open  to  their  ambition.  With  the  nobility  some  of  the  great  com- 
moners acted  in  concert,  and  especially  the  family  and  faction  of  the 
Albizi.  They  carried  a  law  by  which  every  person  accepting  an 
office  who  should  be  convicted  of  Ghibellinism  or  of  Ghibelline  de- 
scent, upon  testimony  of  public  fame,  became  liable  to  punishment, 
capital  or  pecuniary,  at  the  discretion  of  the  priors.  To  this  law 
they  gave  a  retrospective  effect.  Many  citizens  who  had  been 
magistrates  within  a  few  years  were  charged  with  heavy  fines  on 
this  indefinite  charge.  But  the  more  usual  practice  was  to  warn 
(ammonire)  men  beforehand  against  undertaking  public  trust.  If 
they  neglected  this  hint,  they  were  sure  to  be  treated  as  convicted 
Ghibellines.  Thus  a  very  numerous  class,  called  Ammoniti,  was 
formed  of  proscribed  and  discontented  persons,  eager  to  throw  off 
the  intolerable  yoke  of  the  Guelph  society;  for  the  imputation  of 
Ghibelline  connections  was  generally  an  unfounded  pretext  for 
crushing  the  enemies  of  the  governing  faction.  Men  of  approved 
Guelph  principles  and  origin  were  every  day  warned  from  their 
natural  privileges  of  sharing  in  magistracy.  This  spread  a  uni- 
versal alarm  through  the  city ;  but  the  great  advantage  of  union  and 
secret  confederacy  rendered  the  Guelph  society,  who  had  also  the 
law  on  their  side,  irresistible  by  their  opponents.  Meanwhile  the 
public  honor  was  well  supported  abroad ;  Florence  had  never 
before  been  so  distinguished  as  during  the  prevalence  of  this 
oligarchy. 

The  Guelph  society  had  governed  with  more  or  less  absolute- 
ness for  near  twenty  years,  when  the  republic  became  involved, 
through  the  perfidious  conduct  of  the  papal  legate,  in  a  war  with 
the  Holy  See.  Though  the  Florentines  were  by  no  means  super- 
stitious, this  hostility  to  the  church  appeared  almost  an  absurdity  to 
determined  Guelphs,  and  shocked  those  prejudices  about  names 
which  make  up  the  politics  of  vulgar  minds.  The  Guelph  society, 
though  it  could  not  openly  resist  the  popular  indignation  against 
Gregory  XL,  was  not  heartily  inclined  to  this  war.    Its  management 


FLORENCE     AND     PISA  233 

1372-1378 

fell,  therefore,  into  the  hands  of  eight  commissioners,  some  of  them 
not  well  affected  to  the  society,  whose  administration  was  so  suc- 
cessful and  popular  as  to  excite  the  utmost  jealousy  in  the  Guelphs. 
They  began  to  renew  their  warnings,  and  in  eight  months  excluded 
fourscore  citizens. 

The  civil  dissensions  which  followed  need  not  be  described  at 
length.  The  seven  greater  arts  were  generally  attached  to  the 
Guelph  society,  while  the  fourteen  lesser  arts,  composed  of  retail 
and  mechanical  traders,  were  eager  to  make  Florence  a  democracy 
in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  by  participating  in  the  executive  govern- 
ment. While  the  lesser  arts  were  murmuring  at  the  exclusive  privi- 
leges of  the  commercial  aristocracy,  there  was  yet  an  inferior  class 
of  citizens  who  thought  their  own  claims  to  equal  privileges  irre- 
fragable. The  arrangement  of  twenty-one  trading  companies  had 
still  left  several  kinds  of  artisans  unincorporated,  and  consequently 
unprivileged.  These  had  been  attached  to  the  art  with  which  their 
craft  had  most  connection  in  a  sort  of  dependent  relation.  Thus  to 
the  company  of  drapers,  the  most  wealthy  of  all,  the  various  occu- 
pations instrumental  in  the  manufacture,  as  wool-combers,  dyers, 
and  weavers,  were  appendant.  Besides  the  sense  of  political  ex- 
clusion, these  artisans  alleged  that  they  were  oppressed  by  their  em- 
ployers of  the  art.  A  still  lower  order  of  the  community  was  the 
mere  populace,  who  did  not  practice  any  regular  trade,  or  who  only 
worked  for  daily  hire.  These  were  called  ciompi,  a  corruption,  it  is 
said,  of  the  French  compere. 

The  inferior  tradesmen  demanded  the  establishment  of  two 
new  arts  for  themselves,  and  one  for  the  lower  people.  After 
various  seditions,  a  violent  insurection,  in  which  the  ciompi,  or 
lowest  populace,  were  alone  concerned,  broke  out.  The  gates  of  the 
palace  belonging  to  the  seigniory  were  forced  open,  the  priors  com- 
pelled to  fly,  and  no  appearance  of  a  constitutional  magistracy  re- 
mained to  throw  the  veil  of  law  over  the  excesses  of  anarchy.  The 
republic  seemed  to  rock  from  its  foundations ;  and  the  circumstance 
to  which  historians  ascribe  its  salvation  is  not  the  least  singular  in 
this  critical  epoch.  One  Michel  di  Lando,  a  wool-comber,  half- 
dressed  and  without  shoes,  happened  to  hold  the  standard  of  justice, 
wrested  from  the  proper  officer  when  the  populace  burst  into  the 
palace.  Whether  he  was  previously  conspicuous  in  the  tumult  is  not 
recorded ;  but  the  wild,  capricious  mob,  who  had  destroyed  what 
they  had  no  conception  how  to  rebuild,    suddenly    cried  out  that 


234  ITALY 

1378-1334 

Lando  should  be  gonfalonier  or  signor,  and  reform  the  city  at  his 
pleasure. 

A  choice,  arising  probably  from  wanton  folly,  could  not  have 
been  better  made  by  wisdom.  Lando  was  a  man  of  courage,  moder- 
ation, and  integrity.  He  gave  immediate  proofs  of  these  qualities 
by  causing  his  office  to  be  respected.  The  eight  commissioners  of 
the  war,  who,  though  not  instigators  of  the  sedition,  were  well 
pleased  to  see  the  Guelph  party  so  entirely  prostrated,  now  fancied 
themselves  masters,  and  began  to  nominate  priors.  But  Lando  sent 
a  message  to  them  that  he  was  elected  by  the  people,  and  that  he 
could  dispense  with  their  assistance.  He  then  proceeded  to  the 
choice  of  priors.  Three  were  taken  from  the  greater  arts,  three 
from  the  lesser,  and  three  from  the  two  new  arts  and  the  lower 
people.  This  eccentric  college  lost  no  time  in  restoring  tranquillity, 
and  compelled  the  populace,  by  threat  of  punishment,  to  return  to 
their  occupations.  But  the  ciompi  were  not  disposed  to  give  up  the 
pleasures  of  anarchy  so  readily.  They  were  dissatisfied  at  the  small 
share  allotted  to  them  in  the  new  distribution  of  offices,  and  mur- 
mured at  their  gonfalonier  as  a  traitor  to  the  popular  cause.  Lando 
was  aware  that  an  insurrection  was  projected ;  he  took  measures 
with  the  most  respectable  citizens;  the  insurgents,  when  they 
showed  themselves,  were  quelled  by  force,  and  the  gonfalonier  re- 
tired from  office  with  an  approbation  which  all  historians  of  Flor- 
ence have  agreed  to  perpetuate.  The  ciompi,  once  checked,  were 
soon  defeated.  The  next  gonfalonier  was,  like  Lando,  a  wool- 
comber  ;  but,  wanting  the  intrinsic  merit  of  Lando,  his  mean  station 
excited  universal  contempt.  None  of  the  arts  could  endure  their 
low  coadjutors;  a  short  struggle  was  made  by  the  populace,  but 
they  were  entirely  overpowered  with  considerable  slaughter,  and  the 
government  was  divided  between  the  seven  greater  and  sixteen 
lesser  arts  in  nearly  equal  proportions. 

The  party  of  the  lesser  arts,  or  inferior  tradesmen,  which  had 
begun  this  confusion,  were  left  winners  when  it  ceased.  But  at  the 
end  of  three  years  the  aristocratic  party  regained  its  ascendency. 
They  did  not  revive  the  severity  practiced  toward  the  Ammoniti ; 
but  the  two  new  arts,  created  for  the  small  trades,  were  abolished, 
and  the  lesser  arts  reduced  to  a  third  part,  instead  of  something 
more  than  one-half,  of  public  offices.  For  half  a  century  after  this 
time  no  revolution  took  place  at  Florence.  The  Guelph  aristocracy, 
strong  in  opulence  and  antiquity,  and  rendered  prudent  by  experi- 


FLORENCE     AND     PISA  235 

1351-1384 

ence,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Albizi  family,  maintained  a  pre- 
ponderating influence  without  much  departing,  the  times  considered, 
from  moderation  and  respect  for  the  laws. 

Though  fertile  and  populous,  the  proper  district  of  Florence 
was  by  no  means  extensive.  The  republic  made  no  acquisition  of 
territory  till  135 1,  when  she  annexed  the  small  city  of  Prato,  not  ten 
miles  from  her  walls.  Pistoja,  though  still  nominally  independent, 
received  a  Florentine  garrison  about  the  same  time.  Several  addi- 
tions were  made  to  the  district  by  fair  purchase  from  the  nobility 
of  the  Apennines,  and  a  few  by  main  force.  The  territory  was  still 
very  little  proportioned  to  the  fame  and  power  of  Florence.  The 
latter  was  founded  upon  her  vast  commercial  opulence.  Every 
Italian  state  employed  mercenary  troops,  and  the  richest  was,  of 
course,  the  most  powerful.  In  1336  the  revenues  of  Florence  are 
reckoned  by  Villani  at  300,000  florins,  which,  as  he  observes,  is 
more  than  the  king  of  Naples  or  Aragon  possess.1  The  ex- 
penditure went  at  that  time  very  much  beyond  the  receipt,  and  was 
defrayed  by  loans  from  the  principal  mercantile  firms,  which  were 
secured  by  public  funds — the  earliest  instance,  I  believe,  of  that 
financial  resource.  Her  population  was  computed  at  ninety 
thousand  souls.  Villani  reckons  the  district  at  eighty  thousand 
men,  I  suppose  those  only  of  military  age ;  but  this  calculation  must 
have  been  too  large,  even  though  he  included,  as  we  may  presume, 
the  city  in  his  estimate. 

The  first  eminent  conquest  made  by  Florence  was  that  of  Pisa, 
early  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Pisa  had  been  distinguished  as  a 
commercial  city  ever  since  the  age  of  the  Othos.  From  her  ports, 
and  those  of  Genoa,  the  earliest  naval  armaments  of  the  Western 
nations  were  fitted  out  against  the  Saracen  corsairs  who  infested 
the  Mediterranean  coasts.  In  the  eleventh  century  she  undertook, 
and,  after  a  pretty  long  struggle,  completed,  the  important,  or  at 
least  the  splendid,  conquest  of  Sardinia,  an  island  long  subject  to  a 
Moorish  chieftain.  Her  naval  prowess  was  supported  by  her  com- 
merce. A  writer  of  the  twelfth  century  reproaches  her  with  the 
Jews,  the  Arabians,  and  other  "  monsters  of  the  sea,"  who  thronged 
in  her  streets.  The  crusades  poured  fresh  wealth  into  the  lap  of  the 
maritime  Italian  cities.  In  some  of  those  expeditions  a  great  por- 
tion  of   the   armament   was   conveyed   by   sea   to    Palestine,     and 

1  The  gold   florin   was  worth   about  $2.50   of  our   money.     The   district   of 
Florence  was  then  something  less  than  three  hundred  square  miles. 


236  ITALY 

1282-1384 

freighted  the  vessels  of  Pisa,  Genoa,  and  Venice.  When  the 
Christians  had  bought  with  their  blood  the  seacoast  of  Syria,  these 
republics  procured  the  most  extensive  privileges  in  the  new  states 
that  were  formed  out  of  their  slender  conquests,  and  became  the 
conduits  through  which  the  produce  of  the  East  flowed  in  upon  the 
ruder  nations  of  Europe.  Pisa  maintained  a  large  share  of  this 
commerce,  as  well  as  of  maritime  greatness,  till  near  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  In  1282  she  was  in  great  power,  possessing 
Sardinia,  Corsica,  and  Elba,  whence  the  republic,  as  well  as  pri- 
vate persons,  derived  large  revenues,  and  almost  ruled  the  sea 
with  their  ships  and  merchandise,  and  beyond  sea  were  very  power- 
ful in  the  city  of  Acre,  and  much  connected  with  its  principal  citi- 
zens. The  prosperous  era  of  Pisa  is  marked  by  her  public  edifices. 
She  was  the  first  Italian  city  that  took  a  pride  in  architectural  mag- 
nificence. Her  cathedral  is  of  the  eleventh  century ;  the  baptistery, 
the  famous  inclined  tower,  or  belfry,  the  arcades  that  surround  the 
Campo  Santo,  or  cemetery  of  Pisa,  are  of  the  twelfth,  or,  at 
latest,  of  the  thirteenth. 

It  would  have  been  no  slight  anomaly  in  the  annals  of  Italy, 
or,  we  might  say,  of  mankind,  if  two  neighboring  cities,  com- 
petitors in  every  naval  enterprise,  had  not  been  perpetual  enemies 
to  each  other.  One  is  more  surprised,  if  the  fact  be  true,  that  no 
war  broke  out  between  Pisa  and  Genoa  till  11 19.  From  this  time, 
at  least,  they  continually  recurred.  An  equality  of  forces  and  of 
courage  kept  the  conflict  uncertain  for  the  greater  part  of  two 
centuries.  Their  battles  were  numerous,  and  sometimes,  taken 
separately,  decisive ;  but  the  public  spirit  and  resources  of  each  city 
were  called  out  by  defeat,  and  we  generally  find  a  new  armament  re- 
places the  losses  of  an  unsuccessful  combat.  In  this  respect  the  naval 
contest  between  Pisa  and  Genoa,  though  much  longer  protracted, 
resembles  that  of  Rome  and  Carthage  in  the  first  Punic  war.  But 
Pisa  was  reserved  for  her  ^Egades.  In  one  fatal  battle,  off  the  little 
isle  of  Meloria,  in  1284,  her  whole  navy  was  destroyed.  Several 
unfortunate  and  expensive  armaments  had  almost  exhausted  the 
state,  and  this  was  the  last  effort,  by  private  sacrifices,  to  equip  one 
more  fleet.  After  this  defeat  it  was  in  vain  to  contend  for  empire. 
Eleven  thousand  Pisans  languished  for  many  years  in  prison  ;  it  was 
a  current  saying  that  whoever  would  see  Pisa  should  seek  her  at 
Genoa.  A  treacherous  chief,  that  Count  Ugolino  whose  guilt  was 
so  terribly  avenged,  by  the  starvation  of  himself  and  members  of 


1384-1406  FLORENCE     AND     PISA  237 

his  family,  who  were  thrown  into  prison  and  left  to  die,  is  said  to 
have  purposely  lost  the  battle,  and  prevented  the  ransom  of  the 
captives,  to  secure  his  power;  accusations  that  obtain  easy  credit 
with  an  unsuccessful  people. 

From  the  epoch  of  the  battle  of  Meloria,  Pisa  ceased  to  be  a 
maritime  power.     Forty  years  afterward  she  was  stripped  of  her 


ancient  colony,  the  island  of  Sardinia,  which  was  annexed  to  the 
crown  of  Aragon.  Her  commerce  now  dwindled  with  her  great- 
ness. During  the  fourteenth  century  Pisa  almost  renounced  the 
ocean,  and  directed  her  main  attention  to  the  politics  of  Tuscany. 
Ghibelline  by  invariable  predilection,  she  was  in  constant  opposition 
to  the  Guelph  cities  which  looked  up  to  Florence.  But  in  the  four- 
teenth century  the  names  of  freeman  and  Ghibelline  were  not  easily 
united;  and  a  city  in  that  interest  stood  insulated  between  the  re- 
publics of  an  opposite  faction  and  the  tyrants  of  her  own.  Pisa  fell 
several  times  under  the  yoke  of  usurpers;  she  was  included  in  the 
widespreading  acquisitions  of  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti.  At  his  death 
one  of  his  family  seized  the  dominion,  and  finally  the  Florentines 
purchased  for  400,000  florins  a  rival  and  once  equal  city.  The 
Pisans  made  a  resistance  more  according  to  what  they  had  been 
than  what  they  were. 


Chapter  XXXII 

GENOA  AND  VENICE.     1200-1426 

THE  early  history  of  Genoa,  in  all  her  foreign  relations,  is 
involved  in  that  of  Pisa.  As  allies  against  the  Saracens 
of  Africa,  Spain,  and  the  Mediterranean  islands,  as  co- 
rivals  in  commerce  with  these  very  Saracens  or  with  the  Christians 
of  the  East,  as  cooperators  in  the  great  expeditions  under  the  ban- 
ner of  the  cross,  or  as  engaged  in  deadly  warfare  with  each  other, 
the  two  republics  stand  in  continual  parallel.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  Genoa  was,  perhaps,  the  more  prominent 
and  flourishing  of  the  two.  She  had  conquered  the  island  of  Cor- 
sica at  the  same  time  that  Pisa  reduced  Sardinia ;  and  her  acquisi- 
tion, though  less  considerable,  was  longer  preserved.  Her  territory 
at  home,  the  ancient  Liguria,  was  much  more  extensive,  and,  what 
was  most  important,  contained  a  greater  range  of  seacoast  than 
that  of  Pisa.  But  the  commercial  and  maritime  prosperity  of  Genoa 
may  be  dated  from  the  recovery  of  Constantinople  by  the  Greeks  in 
1 26 1.  Jealous  of  the  Venetians,  by  whose  arms  the  Latin  emperors 
had  been  placed,  and  were  still  maintained,  on  their  throne,  the 
Genoese  assisted  Palaeologus  in  overturning  that  usurpation.  They 
obtained  in  consequence  the  suburb  of  Pera  or  Galata,  over  against 
Constantinople,  as  an  exclusive  settlement,  where  their  colony  was 
ruled  by  a  magistrate  sent  from  home,  and  frequently  defied  the 
Greek  capital  with  its  armed  galleys  and  intrepid  seamen.  From 
this  convenient  station  Genoa  extended  her  commerce  into  the  Black 
Sea,  and  established  her  principal  factory  at  Caffa,  in  the  Crimean 
peninsula.  This  commercial  monopoly,  for  such  she  endeavored  to 
render  it,  aggravated  the  animosity  of  Venice.  As  Pisa  retired  from 
the  field  of  waters,  a  new  enemy  appeared  upon  the  horizon  to  dis- 
pute the  maritime  dominion  of  Genoa.  Her  first  war  with  Venice 
was  in  1258,  and  for  a  hundred  years,  till  Genoa  had  to  retire  de- 
feated, the  struggle  continued.  The  second  was  not  till  after  the 
victory  of  Meloria  had  crushed  her  more  ancient  enemy.  It  broke 
out  in  1293,  and  was  prosecuted  with  determined  fury  and  a  great 

238 


GENOA     AND     VENICE  239 

1293-1378 

display  of  naval  strength  on  both  sides.  One  Genoese  armament 
consisted  of  155  galleys,  each  manned  with  from  200  to  300  sailors. 
It  was,  however,  beyond  any  other  exertion.  The  usual  fleets  of 
Genoa  and  Venice  were  of  seventy  to  ninety  galleys. 

But  the  most  remarkable  war,  and  that  productive  of  the  great- 
est consequences,  was  one  that  commenced  in  1378,  after  several 
acts  of  hostility  in  the  Levant.  Genoa  did  not  stand  alone  in  this 
war.  A  formidable  confederacy  was  raised  against  Venice,  who 
had  given  provocation  to  many  enemies.  Of  this  Francis  Carrara, 
signor  of  Padua,  and  the  King  of  Hungary  were  the  leaders.  But 
the  principal  struggle  was,  as  usual,  upon  the  waves.  During  the 
winter  of  1378  a  Genoese  fleet  kept  the  sea,  and  ravaged  the  shores 
of  Dalmatia.  The  Venetian  armament  had  been  weakened  by  an 
epidemic  disease,  and  when  Vittor  Pisani,  their  admiral,  gave  battle 
to  the  enemy,  he  was  compelled  to  fight  with  a  hasty  conscription  of 
landsmen  against  the  best  sailors  in  the  world.  Entirely  defeated, 
and  taking  refuge  at  Venice  with  only  seven  galleys,  Pisani  was 
cast  into  prison,  as  if  his  ill-fortune  had  been  his  crime.  Meanwhile 
the  Genoese  fleet,  augmented  by  a  strong  reinforcement,  rode  before 
the  long  natural  ramparts  that  separate  the  lagoons  of  Venice  from 
the  Adriatic.  Six  passages  intersect  the  islands  which  constitute 
this  barrier,  besides  the  broader  outlets  of  Brondolo  and  Fossone, 
through  which  the  waters  of  the  Brenta  and  the  Adige  are  dis- 
charged. The  lagoon  itself,  as  is  well  known,  consists  of  extremely 
shallow  water,  unnavigable  for  any  vessel  except  along  the  course 
of  artificial  and  intricate  passages.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent 
difficulties  of  such  an  enterprise,  Pietro  Doria,  the  Genoese  admiral, 
determined  to  reduce  the  city.  His  first  successes  gave  him  reason 
to  hope.  He  forced  the  passage,  and  stormed  the  little  town  of 
Chioggia,  built  upon  the  inside  of  the  isle  bearing  that  name,  about 
twenty-five  miles  south  of  Venice.  Nearly  four  thousand  prisoners 
fell  here  into  his  hands — an  augury,  as  it  seemed,  of  a  more  splendid 
triumph.  In  the  consternation  this  misfortune  inspired  at  Venice, 
the  first  impulse  was  to  ask  for  peace.  The  ambassadors  carried 
with  them  seven  Genoese  prisoners,  as  a  sort  of  peace-offering  to 
the  admiral,  and  were  empowered  to  make  large  and  humiliating 
concessions,  reserving  nothing  but  the  liberty  of  Venice.  Francis 
Carrara  strongly  urged  his  allies  to  treat  for  peace.  But  the 
Genoese  were  stimulated  by  long  hatred,  and  intoxicated  by  this 
unexpected  opportunity  of  revenge.    Doria.  calling  the  ambassadors 


210  ITALY 

1378-1379 

into  council,  thus  addressed  them :  "  Ye  shall  obtain  no  peace  from 
us,  I  swear  to  you,  nor  from  the  lord  of  Padua,  till  first  we  have  put 
a  curb  in  the  mouths  of  those  wild  horses  that  stand  upon  the  place 
of  St.  Mark.  When  they  are  bridled  you  shall  have  enough  of 
peace.  Take  back  with  you  your  Genoese  captives,  for  I  am  com- 
ing1 within  a  few  days  to  release  both  them  and  their  companions 
from  your  prisons."  When  this  answer  was  reported  to  the  Senate, 
they  prepared  to  defend  themselves  with  the  characteristic  firmness 
of  their  government.  Every  eye  was  turned  toward  a  great  man 
unjustly  punished,  their  admiral  Vittor  Pisani.  He  was  called  out 
of  prison  to  defend  his  country  amid  general  acclamations.  Un- 
der his  vigorous  command  the  canals  were  fortified  or  occupied 
by  large  vessels  armed  with  artillery;  thirty-four  galleys  were 
equipped;  every  citizen  contributed  according  to  his  power;  in  the 
entire  want  of  commercial  resources  (for  Venice  had  not  a  mer- 
chant-ship during  this  war)  private  plate  was  melted;  and  the 
Senate  held  out  the  promise  of  ennobling  thirty  families  who  should 
be  most  forward  in  this  strife  of  patriotism. 

The  new  fleet  was  so  ill  provided  with  seamen  that  for  some 
months  the  admiral  employed  them  only  in  maneuvering  along 
the  canals.  From  some  unaccountable  supineness,  or  more  proba- 
bly from  the  insuperable  difficulties  of  the  undertaking,  the  Gen- 
oese made  no  assault  upon  the  city.  They  had,  indeed,  fair  grounds 
to  hope  for  its  reduction  by  famine  or  despair.  Every  access  to 
the  continent  was  cut  off  by  the  troops  of  Padua ;  and  the  King  of 
Hungary  had  mastered  almost  all  the  Venetian  towns  in  Istria  and 
along  the  Dalmatian  coast.  The  Doge  Contarini,  taking  the  chief 
command,  appeared  at  length  with  his  fleet  near  Chioggia,  before 
the  Genoese  were  aware.  They  were  still  less  aware  of  his  secret 
design.  He  pushed  one  of  the  large  round  vessels,  then  called 
cocche,  into  the  narrow  passage  of  Chioggia  which  connects  the 
lagoon  with  the  sea,  and,  mooring  her  athwart  the  channel,  inter- 
rupted that  communication.  Attacked  with  fury  by  the  enemy,  this 
vessel  went  down  on  the  spot,  and  the  doge  improved  his  advantage 
by  sinking  loads  of  stones  until  the  passage  became  absolutely  un- 
navigable.  It  was  still  possible  for  the  Genoese  fleet  to  follow  the 
principal  canal  of  the  lagoon  toward  Venice  and  the  northern 
passages,  or  to  sail  out  of  it  by  the  harbor  of  Brondolo  ;  but,  whether 
from  confusion  or  from  miscalculating  the  dangers  of  their  position, 
they  suffered  the  Venetians  to  close  the  canal  upon  them  by  the  same 


GENOA     AND     VENICE  241 

1379-1380 

means  they  had  used  at  Chioggia,  and  even  to  place  their  fleet  in 
the  entrance  of  Brondolo  so  near  to  the  lagoon  that  the  Genoese 
could  not  form  their  ships  in  line  of  battle.  The  circumstances  of 
the  two  combatants  were  thus  entirely  changed.  But  the  Genoese 
fleet,  though  besieged  in  Chioggia,  was  impregnable,  and  their  com- 
mand of  the  land  secured  them  from  famine.  Venice,  notwith- 
standing her  unexpected  success,  was  still  very  far  from  secure:  it 
was  difficult  for  the  doge  to  keep  his  position  through  the  winter; 
and  if  the  enemy  could  appear  in  open  sea,  the  risks  of  combat  were 
extremely  hazardous.  It  is  said  that  the  Senate  deliberated  upon 
transporting  the  seat  of  their  liberty  to  Candia,  and  that  the  doge 
had  announced  his  intention  to  raise  the  siege  of  Chioggia,  if 
expected  succor  did  not  arrive  by  January  i,  1380.  On  that  very 
day  Carlo  Zeno,  an  admiral  who,  ignorant  of  the  dangers  of  his 
country,  had  been  supporting  the  honor  of  her  flag  in  the  Levant 
and  on  the  coast  of  Liguria,  appeared  with  a  reinforcement  of 
eighteen  galleys  and  a  store  of  provisions.  From  that  moment  the 
confidence  of  Venice  revived.  The  fleet,  now  superior  in  strength 
to  the  enemy,  began  to  attack  them  with  vivacity.  After  several 
months  of  obstinate  resistance,  the  Genoese — whom  their  republic 
had  ineffectually  attempted  to  relieve  by  a  fresh  armament — blocked 
up  in  the  town  of  Chioggia,  and  pressed  by  hunger,  were  obliged  to 
surrender.  Nineteen  galleys  only,  out  of  forty-eight,  were  in  good 
condition ;  and  the  crews  were  equally  diminished  in  the  ten  months 
of  their  occupation  of  Chioggia.  The  pride  of  Genoa  was  deemed 
to  be  justly  humbled,  and  even  her  own  historian  confesses  that  God 
would  not  suffer  so  noble  a  city  as  Venice  to  become  the  spoil  of  a 
conqueror. 

Though  the  capture  of  Chioggia  did  not  terminate  the  war, 
both  parties  were  exhausted,  and  willing,  next  year,  to  accept  the 
mediation  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  By  the  Peace  of  Turin,  Venice 
surrendered  most  of  her  territorial  possessions  to  the  King  of 
Hungary.  That  prince  and  Francis  Carrara  were  the  only 
gainers.  Genoa  obtained  the  isle  of  Tenedos,  one  of  the  original 
subjects  of  dispute — a  poor  indemnity  for  her  losses.  Though, 
upon  a  hasty  view,  the  result  of  this  war  appears  more  unfavorable 
to  Venice,  yet  in  fact  it  is  the  epoch  of  the  decline  of  Genoa.  From 
this  time  she  never  commanded  the  ocean  with  such  navies  as  be- 
fore; her  commerce  gradually  went  into  decay;  and  the  fifteenth 
century — the  most  splendid  in  the  annals  of  Venice — is  among  the 


242  ITALY 

1339-1380 

most  ignominious  in  those  of  Genoa.  But  this  was  partly  owing  to 
internal  dissensions,  by  which  her  liberty,  as  well  as  glory,  was  for  a 
while  suspended. 

At  Genoa,  as  in  other  cities  of  Lombardy,  the  principal  magis- 
trates of  the  republic  were  originally  styled  consuls.  Their  number 
varied  from  four  to  six,  annually  elected  by  the  people  in  their  full 
parliament.  These  consuls  presided  over  the  republic,  and  com- 
manded the  forces  by  land  and  sea;  while  another  class  of  magis- 
trates, bearing  the  same  title,  were  annually  elected  by  the  several 
companies  into  which  the  people  were  divided,  for  the  administra- 
tion of  civil  justice.  This  was  the  regimen  of  the  twelfth  century ; 
but  in  the  next  Genoa  fell  into  the  fashion  of  intrusting  the  executive 
power  to  a  foreign  podesta.  The  podesta  was  assisted  by  a  council 
of  eight,  chosen  by  the  eight  companies  of  nobility.  This  institu- 
tion gave  not  only  an  aristocratic,  but  almost  an  oligarchical  char- 
acter to  the  constitution,  since  many  of  the  nobility  were  not  mem- 
bers of  these  eight  societies.  Of  the  Senate  or  Councils  we  hardly 
know  more  than  their  existence;  they  are  very  little  mentioned  by 
historians.  Everything  of  a  general  nature,  everything  that  re- 
quired the  expression  of  public  will,  was  reserved  for  the  entire  and 
unrepresented  sovereignty  of  the  people.  In  no  city  was  the  par- 
liament so  often  convened — for  war,  for  peace,  for  alliance,  for 
change  of  government.  These  very  dissonant  elements  were  not 
likely  to  harmonize.  The  people,  sufficiently  accustomed  to  the 
forms  of  democracy  to  imbibe  its  spirit,  repined  at  the  practical  in- 
fluence which  was  thrown  into  the  scale  of  the  nobles.  Among  the 
nobility  themselves,  four  houses  were  distinguished  beyond  all  the 
rest — the  Grimaldi,  the  Fieschi,  the  Doria,  the  Spinola,  the  two 
former  of  Guelph  politics,  the  latter  adherents  of  the  Empire.  Per- 
haps their  equality  of  forces,  and  a  jealousy  which  even  the  families 
of  the  same  faction  entertained  of  each  other,  prevented  anyone 
from  usurping  the  seigniory  at  Genoa.  Neither  the  Guelph  nor 
Ghibelline  party  obtaining  a  decided  preponderance,  continual  rev- 
olutions occurred  in  the  city.  The  most  celebrated  was  in  1339, 
which  led  to  the  election  of  the  first  doge.  A  large  fleet  in  want  of 
pay  broke  out  in  open  insurrection.  Savona  and  the  neighboring 
towns  took  arms  avowedly  against  the  aristocratic  tyranny,  and  the 
capital  was  itself  on  the  point  of  joining  the  insurgents.  There  was, 
by  the  Genoese  constitution,  a  magistrate  named  the  abbot  of  the 
people,  acting  as  a  kind  of  tribune  for  their  protection  against  the 


GENOA     AND     VENICE  243 

1339-1380 

oppression  of  the  nobility.  This  office  had  been  abolished  by  the 
present  government,  and  it  was  the  first  demand  of  the  malcontents 
that  it  should  be  restored.  This  was  acceded  to,  and  twenty  dele- 
gates were  appointed  to  make  the  choice.  While  they  delayed,  and 
the  populace  was  grown  weary  with  waiting,  a  nameless  artisan 
called  out  from  an  elevated  station  that  he  could  direct  them  to  a 
fit  person.  When  the  people,  in  jest,  bade  him  speak  on,  he  uttered 
the  name  of  Simon  Boccanegra.  This  was  a  man  of  noble  birth,  and 
well  esteemed,  who  was  then  present  among  the  crowd.  The  word 
was  suddenly  taken  up ;  a  cry  was  heard  that  Boccanegra  should  be 
abbot :  he  was  instantly  brought  forward,  and  the  sword  of  justice 
forced  into  his  hand.  As  soon  as  silence  could  be  obtained  he  mod- 
estly thanked  them  for  their  favor,  but  declined  an  office  which  his 
nobility  disqualified  him  from  exercising.  At  this  a  single  voice 
out  of  the  crowd  exclaimed,  "  Signor !  "  and  this  title  was  reverber- 
ated from  every  side.  Fearful  of  worse  consequences,  the  actual 
magistrates  urged  him  to  comply  with  the  people  and  accept  the 
office  of  abbot.  But  Boccanegra,  addressing  the  assembly,  declared 
his  readiness  to  become  their  abbot,  signor,  or  whatever  they  would. 
The  cry  of  "  Signor!  "  was  now  louder  than  before;  while  others 
cried  out,  "Let  him  be  duke!"  The  latter  title  was  received  with 
greater  approbation ;  and  Boccanegra  was  conducted  to  the  palace, 
the  first  duke,  or  doge,  of  Genoa. 

Caprice  alone,  or  an  idea  of  more  pomp  and  dignity,  led  the 
populace,  we  may  conjecture,  to  prefer  this  title  to  that  of  signor; 
but  it  produced  important  and  highly  beneficial  consequences.  In 
all  neighboring  cities  an  arbitrary  government  had  been  already  es- 
tablished under  their  respective  signors ;  the  name  was  associated 
with  indefinite  power,  while  that  of  doge  had  only  been  taken  by  the 
elective  and  very  limited  chief  magistrate  of  another  maritime  re- 
public. Neither  Boccanegra  nor  his  successors  ever  rendered  their 
authority  unlimited  or  hereditary.  The  constitution  of  Genoa,  from 
an  oppressive  aristocracy,  became  a  mixture  of  the  two  other  forms, 
with  an  exclusion  of  the  nobles  from  power.  Those  four  great 
families  who  had  domineered  alternately  for  almost  a  century  lost 
their  influence  at  home  after  the  revolution  of  1339.  Yet,  what  is 
remarkable  enough,  they  were  still  selected  in  preference  for  the 
highest  of  trusts ;  their  names  are  still  identified  with  the  glory  of 
Genoa ;  her  fleets  hardly  sailed  but  under  a  Doria,  a  Spinola,  or  a 
Grimalda — such  confidence  could  the  republic  bestow  upon  their 


244  ITALY 

452-1380 

patriotism,  or  that  of  those  whom  they  commanded.  Meanwhile 
two  or  three  new  families,  a  plebeian  oligarchy,  filled  their  place  in 
domestic  honors;  the  Adorni,  the  Fregosi,  the  Montalti,  contended 
for  the  ascendant.  From  their  competition  ensued  revolutions  too 
numerous  almost  for  a  separate  history;  in  four  years,  from  1390 
to  1394,  the  doge  was  ten  times  changed — swept  away  or  brought 
back  in  the  fluctuations  of  popular  tumult.  Antoniotto  Adorno, 
four  times  Doge  of  Genoa,  had  sought  the  friendship  of  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti;  but  that  crafty  tyrant  meditated  the  subjugation 
of  the  republic,  and  played  her  factions  against  one  another  to  ren- 
der her  fall  secure.  Adorno  perceived  that  there  was  no  hope  for 
ultimate  independence  but  by  making  a  temporary  sacrifice  of  it. 
His  own  power,  ambitious  as  he  had  been,  he  voluntarily  resigned ; 
and  placed  the  republic  under  the  protection  or  seigniory  of  the 
King  of  France.  Terms  were  stipulated  very  favorable  to  her  lib- 
erties ;  but,  with  a  French  garrison  once  received  into  the  city,  they 
were  not  always  sure  of  observance. 

While  Genoa  lost  even  her  political  independence,  Venice  be- 
came more  conspicuous  and  powerful  than  before.  That  famous 
republic  deduces  its  origin,  and  even  its  liberty,  from  an  era  be- 
yond the  commencement  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  Venetians  boast 
of  a  perpetual  emancipation  from  the  yoke  of  barbarians.  From  the 
advancing  army  of  Attila,  during  his  march  on  Rome  in  452,  the 
natives  of  Aquileia  and  neighboring  towns  fled  to  the  small  cluster 
of  islands  that  rise  amid  the  shoals  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brenta. 
Here  they  built  the  town  of  Rivoalto,  the  modern  Venice ;  but  their 
chief  settlement  was,  till  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  at 
Malamocco.  Both  the  Western  and  the  Eastern  Empire  alternately 
pretended  to  exercise  dominion  over  her;  she  was  conquered  by 
Pipin,  son  of  Charlemagne,  and  restored  by  him,  as  the  chroniclers 
say,  to  the  Greek  emperor,  Nicephorus.  There  is  every  appearance 
that  the  Venetians  had  always  considered  themselves  as  subject  to 
the  Eastern  Empire,  and  this  connection  was  not  broken  in  the 
early  part,  at  least,  of  the  tenth  century.  But,  for  every  essential 
purpose,  Venice  might  long  before  be  deemed  an  independent  state. 
Her  doge  was  not  confirmed  at  Constantinople ;  she  paid  no  tribute, 
and  lent  no  assistance  in  war.  Her  own  navies,  in  the  ninth  century, 
encountered  the  Normans,  the  Saracens,  and  the  Slavonians  in  the 
Adriatic  Sea.  Upon  the  coast  of  Dalmatia  were  several  Greek  cities, 
which  the  Empire  had  ceased  to  protect,  and  which,    like   Venice 


GENOA     AND     VENICE  245 

850-1380 

itself,  became  republics  for  want  of  a  master.  Ragusa  was  one  of 
these,  and,  more  fortunate  than  the  rest,  survived  as  an  independent 
city  till  our  own  age.  In  return  for  the  assistance  of  Venice,  these 
little  seaports  put  themselves  under  her  government;  the  Slavo- 
nian parties  were  repressed ;  and  after  acquiring,  partly  by  consent, 
partly  by  arms,  a  large  tract  of  maritime  territory,  the  doge  took  the 
title  of  Duke  of  Dalmatia.  Three  or  four  centuries,  however, 
elapsed  before  the  republic  became  secure  of  these  conquests,  which 
were  frequently  wrested  from  her  by  rebellions  of  the  inhabitants, 
or  by  her  powerful  neighbor,  the  King  of  Hungary. 

A  more  important  source  of  Venetian  greatness  was  commerce. 
In  the  darkest  and  most  barbarous  period,  before  Genoa  or  even 
Pisa  had  entered  into  mercantile  pursuits,  Venice  carried  on  an 
extensive  traffic  both  with  the  Greek  and  Saracen  regions  of  the 
Levant.  The  crusades  enriched  and  aggrandized  Venice  more, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  city.  Her  splendor  may,  however,  be  dated 
from  the  taking  of  Constantinople  by  the  Latins  in  1204.  In  this 
famous  enterprise,  which  diverted  a  great  armament  destined  for 
the  recovery  of  Jerusalem,  the  French  and  Venetian  nations  were 
alone  engaged ;  but  the  former  only  as  private  adventurers,  the  latter 
with  the  whole  strength  of  their  republic  under  its  doge,  Henry 
Dandolo.  Three-eighths  of  the  city  of  Constantinople,  and  an  equal 
proportion  of  the  provinces,  were  allotted  to  them  in  the  partition 
of  the  spoil,  and  the  doge  took  the  singular  but  accurate  title,  Duke 
of  three-eighths  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Their  share  was  increased 
by  purchases  from  less  opulent  crusaders,  especially  one  of  much 
importance,  the  island  of  Candia,  which  they  retained  till  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  These  foreign  acquisitions  were  gen- 
erally granted  out  in  fief  to  private  Venetian  nobles  under  the  su- 
premacy of  the  republic.  It  was  thus  that  the  Ionian  Islands,  to 
adopt  the  vocabulary  of  our  day,  came  under  the  dominion  of 
Venice,  and  guaranteed  that  sovereignty  which  she  now  began  to 
affect  over  the  Adriatic.  Those  of  the  archipelago  were  lost  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  This  political  greatness  was  sustained  by  an  in- 
creasing commerce.  No  Christian  state  preserved  so  considerable  an 
intercourse  with  the  Mohammedans.  While  Genoa  kept  the  keys  of 
the  Black  Sea  by  her  colonies  of  Pera  and  Caffa,  Venice  directed  her 
vessels  to  Acre  and  Alexandria.  These  connections,  as  is  the  natural 
effect  of  trade,  deadened  the  sense  of  religious  antipathy,  and  the 
Venetians  were  sometimes  charged    with    obstructing    all    efforts 


246  ITALY 

697-1380 

toward    a    new    crusade,    or    even   any    partial    attacks    upon    the 
Mohammedan  nations. 

The  earliest  form  of  government  at  Venice,  according  to  an 
epistle  of  Cassiodorus  published  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was  by 
twelve  annual  tribunes.  Perhaps  the  union  of  the  different  islanders 
was  merely  federative.  However,  in  697,  they  resolved  to  elect  a 
chief  magistrate  by  name  of  duke,  or,  in  their  dialect,  Doge  of  Venice. 
No  councils  appear  to  have  limited  his  power,  or  represented  the 
national  will.  The  doge  was  general  and  judge;  he  was  sometimes 
permitted  to  associate  his  son  with  him,  and  thus  to  prepare  the  road 
for  hereditary  power;  his  government  had  all  the  prerogatives,  and, 
as  far  as  in  such  a  state  of  manners  was  possible,  the  pomp,  of  a 
monarchy.  But  he  acted  in  important  matters  with  the  concurrence 
of  a  general  assembly,  though,  from  the  want  of  positive  restraints, 
his  executive  government  might  be  considered  as  nearly  absolute. 
Time,  however,  demonstrated  to  the  Venetians  the  imperfections  of 
such  a  constitution.  Limitations  were  accordingly  imposed  on  the 
doge,  so  that  by  the  fourteenth  century  he  was  practically  a  mere 
figurehead,  acting  only  by  the  advice  of  six  councilors,  who  formed 
a  sort  of  executive  cabinet  for  the  routine  work  of  administration. 
In  the  twelfth  century  the  Quarantia  was  instituted,  at  first  as  an 
advisory  body  or  select  Senate,  but  gradually  becoming  the  chief  law 
court  of  Venice.  In  1172,  the  Great  Council  was  established.  It 
was  at  first  elective,  and  annually  renewed ;  but  it  became  gradually, 
by  successive  changes,  an  exclusive  hereditary  aristocracy,  and,  in 
1 3 19,  all  elective  forms  were  abolished.  By  the  constitution  of 
Venice  as  it  was  then  settled,  every  descendant  of  a  member  of  the 
Great  Council,  on  attaining  twenty-five  years  of  age,  entered  as  of 
right  into  that  body,  which,  of  course,  became  unlimited  in  its 
numbers.     (The  S errata  del  Maggior  Consiglio.) 

But  an  assembly  so  numerous  as  the  Great  Council  could  never 
have  conducted  the  public  affairs  with  that  secrecy  and  steadiness 
which  were  characteristic  of  Venice;  and  without  an  intermediary 
power  between  the  doge  and  the  patrician  multitude  the  constitution 
would  have  gained  nothing  in  stability  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of 
popular  freedom.  The  executive  government  was  committed  to  a 
Senate,  consisting  of  sixty  members,  in  which  the  doge  presided, 
and  to  which  the  care  of  the  state  in  all  domestic  and  foreign  rela- 
tions, and  the  previous  deliberation  upon  proposals  submitted  to  the 
Great  Council,  was  confided.     It  was  enlarged    in    the   fourteenth 


GENOA     AND     VENICE  247 

1319-1380 

century  by  sixty  additional  members;  and  as  a  great  part  of  the 
magistrates  also  had  seats  in  it,  the  whole  number  amounted  to  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred.  Though  the  legislative  power,  prop- 
erly speaking,  remained  with  the  Great  Council,  the  Senate  used  to 
impose  taxes,  and  had  the  exclusive  right  of  making  peace  and  war. 
It  was  annually  renewed,  like  almost  all  other  councils  at  Venice, 
by  the  Great  Council. 

It  might  be  imagined  that  a  dignity  so  shorn  of  its  luster  as 
that  of  doge  would  not  excite  an  overweening  ambition.  But  the 
Venetians  were  still  jealous  of  extinguished  power,  and  while  their 
constitution  was  yet  immature  the  Great  Council  planned  new. 
methods  of  restricting  their  chief  magistrate  and  of  quelling  all 
popular  discontent  as  well.  An  oath  was  taken  by  the  doge  on  his 
election  so  comprehensive  as  to  embrace  every  possible  check  upon 
undue  influence.  He  was  bound  not  to  correspond  with  foreign 
states,  or  to  open  their  letters,  except  in  the  presence  of  the  seign- 
iory; to  acquire  no  property  beyond  the  Venetian  dominions,  and  to 
resign  what  he  might  already  possess;  to  interpose,  directly  or  in- 
directly, in  no  judicial  process ;  and  not  to  permit  any  citizen  to  use 
tokens  of  subjection  in  saluting  him.  As  a  further  security,  they  de- 
vised a  remarkably  complicated  mode  of  supplying  the  vacancy  of 
his  office.  As  many  balls  as  there  were  members  of  the  Great  Coun- 
cil present  were  placed  in  an  urn.  Thirty  of  these  were  gilt.  The 
holders  of  gilt  balls  were  reduced  by  a  second  ballot  to  nine.  The 
nine  elected  forty,  whom  lot  reduced  to  twelve.  The  twelve  chose 
twenty-five  by  separate  nomination.  The  twenty-five  were  reduced 
by  lot  to  nine,  and  each  of  the  nine  chose  five.  These  forty-five 
were  reduced  to  eleven,  as  before ;  the  eleven  elected  forty-one,  who 
were  the  ultimate  voters  for  a  doge.  This  intricacy  appears  useless, 
and  consequently  absurd;  but  the  original  principle  of  a  Venetian 
election  (for  something  of  the  same  kind  was  applied  to  all  their 
councils  and  magistrates)  may  not  always  be  unworthy  of  imitation. 

An  hereditary  prince  could  never  have  remained  quiet  in  such 
trammels  as  were  imposed  upon  the  Doge  of  Venice.  But  early 
prejudice  accustoms  men  to  consider  restraint,  even  upon  them- 
selves, as  advantageous  ;  and  the  limitations  of  ducal  power  appeared 
to  every  Venetian  as  fundamental  as  the  great  laws  of  the  English 
constitution  do  to  the  English.  For  life  the  chief  magistrates  of 
their  country,  her  noble  citizens  forever,  they  might  thank  her  in 
their  own  name  for  what  she  gave,  and  in  that  of  their  posterity  for 


248  ITALY 

1310-1380 

what  she  withheld.  Once  only  a  Doge  of  Venice  was  tempted  to  be- 
tray the  freedom  of  the  republic.  Marino  Falieri,  a  man  far  ad- 
vanced in  life,  engaged,  for  some  petty  resentment,  in  a  wild 
intrigue  to  overturn  the  government.  The  conspiracy  was  soon  dis- 
covered, and  the  doge  avowed  his  guilt.  An  aristocracy  so  firm  and 
so  severe  did  not  hesitate  to  order  his  execution  in  the  ducal  palace 

(1355). 

The  commonalty,  however,  did  not  quietly  acquiesce  in  their 
exclusion  from  the  Great  Council.  Several  commotions  took  place 
about  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  with  the  object  of 
restoring  a  more  popular  regimen.  Upon  the  suppression  of  the  last, 
in  13 10,  the  aristocracy  sacrificed  their  own  individual  freedom 
along  with  that  of  the  people,  to  the  preservation  of  an  imaginary 
privilege.  They  established  the  famous  Council  of  Ten,  that  most 
remarkable  part  of  the  Venetian  constitution.  They  formed,  in 
fact,  a  veritable  committee  of  public  safety  and  became  a  per- 
manent part  of  the  constitution  by  13351.  The  proper  function 
of  the  ten  was  to  act  as  a  court  of  exceptional  jurisdiction,  some- 
what like  the  Court  of  Star  Chamber  in  England.  In  this  capacity 
they  served  as  the  efficient  bulwark  of  the  Venetian  aristocracy,  and 
coerced  the  inferior  citizens  into  passive  acquiescence  in  the  rule  of 
their  superiors.  As  time  went  on,  the  ten  became  more  and  more 
powerful,  and  began  to  interfere  in  the  general  conduct  of  affairs. 
So  great  became  the  passion  for  secrecy  in  the  Venetian  Government 
that  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  ten  began  to  delegate  their  func- 
tions to  a  sub-committee — the  three  "  Inquisitors  of  State."  This 
council,  it  should  be  observed,  consisted  in  fact  of  seventeen,  com- 
prising the  seigniory,  or  the  doge  and  his  six  councilors,  as  well  as 
the  ten  properly  so  called.  The  Council  of  Ten  had  by  usage,  if 
not  by  right,  a  controlling  and  dictatorial  power  over  the  Senate 
and  other  magistrates,  rescinding  their  decisions,  and  treating 
separately  with  foreign  princes.  Their  vast  influence  strengthened 
the  executive  government,  of  which  they  formed  a  part,  and  gave  a 
vigor  to  its  movements  which  the  jealousy  of  the  councils  would 
possibly  have  impeded.  But  they  are  chiefly  known  as  an  arbitrary 
and  inquisitorial  tribunal,  the  standing  tyranny  of  Venice.  Ex- 
cluding the  old  council  of  forty,  to  which  had  been  intrusted  the 
exercise  of  criminal  justice,  not  only  from  the  investigation  of  trea- 
sonable charges,  but  of  several  other  crimes  of  magnitude,  they  in- 
quired, they  judged,  they  punished,  according  to  what  they  called 
1  R.  Lodge,  "The  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  39. 


£*■  1 

^■i&  -.'-s^a  v%^  t  Uii 

I   *#^  1  fKllI 

1 

^  ■*  -lift 

gtf 

GENOA     AND     VENICE  249 

1380-1404 

reason  of  state.  The  public  eye  never  penetrated  the  mystery  of  their 
proceedings ;  the  accused  was  sometimes  not  heard,  never  confronted 
with  witnesses;  the  condemnation  was  secret  as  the  inquiry,  the  pun- 
ishment undivulged  like  both.  The  terrible  and  odious  machinery 
of  a  police,  the  insidious  spy,  the  stipendiary  informer  unknown  to 
the  carelessness  of  feudal  governments,  found  their  natural  soil  in 
the  republic  of  Venice.  Tumultuous  assemblies  were  scarcely  possi- 
ble in  so  peculiar  a  city ;  and  private  conspiracies  never  failed  to  be 
detected  by  the  vigilance  of  the  Council  of  Ten.  Compared  with  the 
Tuscan  republics,  the  tranquillity  of  Venice  is  truly  striking.  The 
names  of  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  hardly  raised  any  emotion  in  her 
streets,  though  the  government  was  considered  in  the  first  part  of 
the  fourteenth  century  as  rather  inclined  toward  the  latter  party. 
But  the  wildest  excesses  of  faction  are  less  dishonoring  than  the 
stillness  and  moral  degradation  of  servitude. 

Until  almost  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  Venice  had 
been  content  without  any  territorial  possessions  in  Italy,  unless  we 
reckon  a  very  narrow  strip  of  seacoast,  bordering  on  her  lagoons, 
called  the  Dogato.  Neutral  in  the  great  contests  between  the  church 
and  the  Empire,  between  the  free  cities  and  their  sovereigns,  she  was 
respected  by  both  parties,  while  neither  ventured  to  claim  her  as  an 
ally.  But  the  rapid  progress  of  Mastino  della  Scala,  lord  of  Verona, 
with  some  particular  injuries,  led  the  Senate  to  form  a  league  with 
Florence  against  him.  The  result  of  this  combination  was  to  annex 
the  district  of  Treviso  to  the  Venetian  dominions.  But  they  made 
no  further  conquests  in  that  age.  On  the  contrary,  they  lost  Treviso 
in  the  unfortunate  war  of  Chiogga,  and  did  not  regain  it  till  1389. 
Nor  did  they  seriously  attempt  to  withstand  the  progress  of  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti,  who,  after  overthrowing  the  family  of  Scala, 
stretched  almost  to  the  Adriatic,  and  altogether  subverted  for  a 
time  the  balance  of  power  in  Lombardy. 

But  upon  the  death  of  this  prince,  in  1404,  a  remarkable  crisis 
took  place  in  that  country.  He  left  two  sons,  Giovanni  Maria  and 
Filippo  Maria,  both  young  and  under  the  care  of  a  mother  who  was 
little  fitted  for  her  situation.  Through  her  misconduct  and  the 
selfish  ambition  of  some  military  leaders,  who  had  commanded  Gian 
Galeazzo's  mercenaries,  that  extensive  dominion  was  soon  broken 
into  fragments.  Bergamo,  Como,  Lodi,  Cremona,  and  other  cities 
revolted,  submitting  themselves  in  general  to  the  families  of  their 
former  princes,  the  earlier  race  of  usurpers,  who  had  for  nearly  a 


250  ITALY 

1404-1426 

century  been  crushed  by  the  Visconti.  A  Guelph  faction  revived 
after  the  name  had  long-  been  proscribed  in  Lombardy.  Francesco 
da  Carrara,  lord  of  Padua,  availed  himself  of  this  revolution  to  get 
possession  of  Verona,  and  seemed  likely  to  unite  all  the  cities  beyond 
the  Adige.  No  family  was  so  odious  to  the  Venetians  as  that  of 
Carrara.  Though  they  had  seemed  indifferent  to  the  more  real 
danger  in  Gian  Galeazzo's  lifetime,  they  took  up  arms  against  this 
inferior  enemy.  Both  Padua  and  Verona  were  reduced,  and,  the 
Duke  of  Milan  ceding  Vicenza,  the  republic  of  Venice  came  suddenly 
into  the  possession  of  an  extensive  territory.  Francesco  da  Carrara, 
who  had  surrendered  in  his  capital,  was  put  to  death  in  prison  at 
Venice.  Notwithstanding  the  deranged  condition  of  the  Milanese, 
no  further  attempts  were  made  by  the  Senate  of  Venice  for  twenty 
years.  They  had  not  yet  acquired  that  decided  love  of  war  and  con- 
quest which  soon  began  to  influence  them  against  all  the  rules  of 
their  ancient  policy.  Meantime  the  dukes  of  Milan  had  recovered  a 
great  part  of  their  dominions  as  rapidly  as  they  had  lost  them. 
Giovanni  Maria,  the  elder  brother,  a  monster  of  guilt  even  among 
the  Visconti,  having  been  assassinated,  Filippo  Maria  assumed  the 
government  of  Milan  and  Pavia,  almost  his  only  possessions.  But 
though  unwarlike  himself,  he  was  a  master  of  intrigue  and,  in  spite 
of  easily  aroused  suspicion,  profited  greatly  by  the  employment  of 
warlike  men,  of  whom  the  chief  was  Carmagnola,  one  of  the  greatest 
generals  of  that  military  age.  Most  of  the  revolted  cities  were  tired 
of  their  new  masters,  and,  their  inclinations  conspiring  with  Car- 
magnola's  eminent  talents  and  activity,  the  house  of  Visconti  reas- 
sumed  its  former  ascendency  from  the  Sessia  to  the  Adige.  Its 
fortunes  might  have  been  still  more  prosperous  if  Filippo  Maria  had 
not  rashly  as  well  as  ungratefully  offended  Carmagnola.  That 
great  captain  retired  to  Venice,  and  inflamed  a  disposition  toward 
war  which  the  Florentines  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  already  ex- 
cited. The  Venetians  had  previously  gained  some  important  ad- 
vantages in  another  quarter,  by  reducing  the  country  of  Friuli,  with 
part  of  Istria,  which  had  for  many  centuries  depended  on  the  tem- 
poral authority  of  a  neighboring  prelate,  the  patriarch  of  Aquileia. 
They  entered  into  this  new  alliance.  No  undertaking  of  the  republic 
had  been  more  successful.  Carmagnola  led  on  their  armies,  and  in 
about  two  years  Venice  acquired  Brescia  and  Bergamo,  and  ex- 
tended her  boundary  to  the  River  Adda,  which  she  was  destined 
never  to  pass  (1426). 


Chapter  XXXIII 

THE   CONDOTTIERI.     1343-1513 

ONLY  through  the  help  of  mercenary  troops  could  a  city 
so  peculiarly  maritime  as  Venice  make  conquests  such 
as  she  had  made.  But,  in  employing  them,  she  merely 
conformed  to  a  fashion  which  states  to  whom  it  was  less  indis- 
pensable had  long  since  established.  A  great  revolution  had  taken 
place  in  the  system  of  military  service  through  most  parts  of 
Europe,  but  especially  in  Italy.  During  the  twelfth  and  thir- 
teenth centuries,  whether  the  Italian  cities  were  engaged  in  their 
contest  with  the  emperors  or  in  less  arduous  and  general  hostili- 
ties among  themselves,  they  seem  to  have  poured  out  almost  their 
whole  population  as  an  armed  and  loosely  organized  militia.  This 
militia  was  of  course  principally  composed  of  infantry.  Gentlemen, 
however,  were  always  mounted,  and  the  superiority  of  a  heavy 
cavalry  must  have  been  prodigiously  great  over  an  undisciplined  and 
ill-armed  populace.  In  the  thirteenth  and  following  centuries 
armies  seem  to  have  been  considered  as  formidable  nearly  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  men-at-arms  or  lancers.  A  charge  of  cavalry 
was  irresistible;  battles  were  continually  won  by  inferior  numbers, 
and  vast  slaughter  was  made  among  the  fugitives. 

As  the  comparative  inefficiency  of  foot-soldiers  became  evident, 
a  greater  proportion  of  cavalry  was  employed,  and  armies,  though 
better  equipped  and  disciplined,  were  less  numerous.  This  we  find 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  main  point  for  a 
state  at  war  was  to  obtain  a  sufficient  force  of  men-at-arms.  As  few 
Italian  cities  could  muster  a  large  body  of  cavalry  from  their  own 
population,  the  obvious  resource  was  to  hire  mercenary  troops. 
Many  soldiers  of  fortune  from  Germany,  France,  and  Hungary  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  the  Italian  states.  Their  services  were 
anxiously  solicited  and  abundantly  repaid  under  leaders  or  profes- 
sional generals  (the  condottieri) .  An  unfortunate  prejudice  in 
favor  of  strangers  prevailed  among  the  Italians  of  that  age. 

The  experience  of  every  fresh  campaign  now  told  more  and 

251 


252  I  T  A  L  Y 

1343-1353 

more  against  the  ordinary  militia.  It  has  been  usual  for  modern 
writers  to  lament  the  degeneracy  of  martial  spirit  among  the  Italians 
of  that  age.  But  the  contest  was  too  unequal  between  an  absolutely 
invulnerable  body  of  cuirassiers  and  an  infantry  of  peasants  or 
citizens. 

It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  mercenary  troops,  chiefly  com- 
posed of  Germans,  would  conduct  themselves  without  insolence  and 
contempt  of  the  effeminacy  which  courted  their  services.  Indifferent 
to  the  cause  they  supported,  the  highest  pay  and  the  richest  plunder 
were  their  constant  motives.  As  Italy  was  generally  the  theater  of 
war  in  some  of  her  numerous  states,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  with  his 
lance  and  charger  for  an  inheritance,  passed  from  one  service  to 
another  without  regret  and  without  discredit.  But  if  peace  happened 
to  be  pretty  universal,  he  might  be  thrown  out  of  his  only  occupa- 
tion, and  reduced  to  a  very  inferior  condition,  in  a  country  of  which 
he  was  not  a  native.  It  naturally  occurred  to  men  of  their  feelings 
that,  if  money  and  honor  could  only  be  had  while  they  retained  their 
arms,  it  was  their  own  fault  if  they  ever  relinquished  them.  Upon 
this  principle  they  first  acted  in  1343,  when  the  republic  of  Pisa 
disbanded  a  large  body  of  German  cavalry  which  had  been  employed 
in  the  war  with  Florence.  A  partisan,  whom  the  Italians  call  the 
Duke  Guarnieri,  engaged  these  dissatisfied  mercenaries  to  remain 
united  under  his  command.  His  plan  was  to  levy  contributions  on 
all  countries  which  he  entered  with  his  company,  without  aiming  at 
any  conquests.  This  was  the  first  of  the  companies  of  adventure, 
which  continued  for  many  years  to  be  the  scourge  and  disgrace  of 
Italy.  Guarnieri,  after  some  time,  withdrew  his  troops,  satiated 
with  plunder,  into  Germany;  but  he  served  in  the  invasion  of  Naples 
by  Louis,  King  of  Hungary,  in  1348,  and,  forming  a  new  company, 
ravaged  the  ecclesiastical  state.  A  still  more  formidable  band  of 
disciplined  robbers  appeared  in  1353,  under  the  command  of  Fra 
Moriale,  and  afterward  of  Conrad  Lando.  This  was  denominated 
the  Great  Company,  and  consisted  of  several  thousand  regular 
troops,  besides  a  multitude  of  half-armed  ruffians,  who  assisted  as 
spies,  pioneers,  and  plunderers.  The  rich  cities  of  Tuscany  and 
Romagna  paid  large  sums  that  the  Great  Company,  which  was  per- 
petually in  motion,  might  not  march  through  their  territory. 

None  of  the  foreign  partisans  who  entered  into  the  service  of 
Italian  states  acquired  such  renown  in  that  career  as  an  Englishman 
whom  contemporary  writers  call  Aucud  or  Agutus,  but  to  whom  we 


THE     CONDOTTIERI  253 

1353-1379 

may  restore  his  national  appellation  of  Sir  John  Hawkwood.  This 
very  eminent  man  had  served  in  the  war  of  Edward  III.,  and  ob- 
tained his  knighthood  from  that  sovereign,  though  originally,  if  we 
may  trust  common  fame,  bred  to  the  trade  of  a  tailor.  After  the 
Peace  of  Bretigni,  France  was  ravaged  by  the  disbanded  troops, 
whose  devastations  Edward  was  accused,  perhaps  unjustly,  of  se- 
cretly instigating.  A  large  body  of  these,  under  the  name  of  the 
White  Company,  passed  into  the  service  of  the  Marquis  of  Mont- 
ferrat.  They  were  some  time  afterward  employed  by  the  Pisans 
against  Florence ;  and  during  this  latter  war  Hawkwood  appears  as 
their  commander.  For  thirty  years  he  was  continually  engaged  in 
the  service  of  the  Visconti,  of  the  Pope,  or  of  the  Florentines,  to 
whom  he  devoted  himself  for  the  latter  part  of  his  life  with  more 
fidelity  and  steadiness  than  he  had  shown  in  his  first  campaigns. 
The  republic  testified  her  gratitude  by  a  public  funeral,  and  by  a 
monument  in  the  Duomo,  which  still  perpetuates  his  memory. 

Hawkwood  was  not  only  the  greatest,  but  the  last  of  the  foreign 
condottieri,  or  captains  of  mercenary  bands.  While  he  was  yet 
living,  a  new  military  school  had  been  formed  in  Italy,  which  not 
only  superseded,  but  eclipsed,  all  the  strangers.  This  important 
reform  was  ascribed  to  Alberic  di  Barbiano,  lord  of  some  petty  ter- 
ritories near  Bologna.  He  formed  a  company  altogether  of  Italians 
about  the  year  1379.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  natives  of  Italy 
had  before  been  absolutely  excluded  from  service.  But  this  was  the 
first  trading  company,  if  I  may  borrow  the  analogy,  the  first  regular 
body  of  Italian  mercenaries,  attached  only  to  their  commander  with- 
out any  consideration  of  party,  like  the  Germans  and  English  of 
Lando  and  Hawkwood.  Alberic  di  Barbiano,  though  himself  no 
doubt  a  man  of  military  talents,  is  principally  distinguished  by  the 
school  of  great  generals  which  the  company  of  St.  George  under  his 
command  produced,  and  which  may  be  deduced,  by  regular  succes- 
sion, to  the  sixteenth  century. 

Two  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  this  school  were 
Braccio  di  Montone,  a  noble  Perugian,  and  Sforza  Attendolo,  or- 
iginally a  peasant  in  the  village  of  Cotignuola.  Nearly  equal  in 
reputation,  unless  perhaps  Braccio  may  be  reckoned  the  more  con- 
summate general,  they  were  divided  by  a  long  rivalry,  which 
descended  to  the  next  generation,  and  involved  all  the  distinguished 
leaders  of  Italy.  The  distractions  of  Naples,  and  the  anarchy  of  the 
ecclesiastical  state,  gave  scope  not  only  to  their  military,  but  political 


254  ITALY 

1379-1450 

ambition.  Sforza  was  invested  with  extensive  fiefs  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  and  with  the  office  of  Great  Constable.  Braccio  aimed 
at  independent  acquisitions,  and  formed  a  sort  of  principality  around 
Perugia.     This,  however,  was  entirely  dissipated  at  his  death. 

When  Sforza  and  Braccio  were  no  more,  their  respective  parties 
were  headed  by  the  son  of  the  former,  Francesco  Sforza,  and  by 
Nicolas  Piccinino.  Sforza  married  Bianca,  the  natural  daughter 
and  only  child  of  Filippo  Maria,  Duke  of  Milan,  and  last  of  his  fam- 
ily. But  upon  the  death  of  Filippo  Maria  in  1447,  the  citizens  of 
Milan  revived  their  republican  government.  A  republic  in  that  part  of 
Lombardy  might,  with  the  help  of  Venice  and  Florence,  have  with- 
stood any  domestic  or  foreign  usurpation.  But  Venice  was  hostile, 
and  Florence  indifferent.  Sforza  became  the  general  of  this  new 
state,  aware  that  such  would  be  the  probable  means  of  becoming  its 
master.  In  1450  he  was  proclaimed  duke,  rather  by  right  of  elec- 
tion, or  of  conquest,  than  in  virtue  of  his  marriage  with  Bianca, 
whose  sex,  as  well  as  illegitimacy,  seemed  to  preclude  her  from  in- 
heriting. On  entering  Milan,  says  Machiavelli,  Sforza  "  was  re- 
ceived with  the  greatest  possible  joy  by  those  who,  only  a  short  time 
previously,  had  heaped  on  him  all  the  slanders  that  hatred  could 
inspire."  x 

Whatever  evils  might  be  derived,  and  they  were  not  trifling, 
from  the  employment  of  foreign  or  native  mercenaries,  it  was  im- 
possible to  discontinue  the  system  without  general  consent ;  and  too 
many  states  found  their  own  advantage  in  it  for  such  an  agreement. 
The  condottieri  were,  indeed,  all  notorious  for  contempt  of  engage- 
ments. Their  rapacity  was  equal  to  their  bad  faith.  Besides  an 
enormous  pay,  for  every  private  cuirassier  received  much  more  in 
value  than  a  subaltern  officer  at  present,  they  exacted  gratifications 
for  every  success.  But  everything  was  endured  by  ambitious  gov- 
ernments who  wanted  their  aid.  Florence  and  Venice  were  the  two 
states  which  owed  most  to  the  companies  of  adventure.  The  one 
loved  war  without  its  perils ;  the  other  could  never  have  obtained  an 
inch  of  territory  without  a  population  of  sailors.  But  they  were 
both  almost  inexhaustibly  rich  by  commercial  industry;  and  as  the 
surest  paymasters,  were  best  served  by  those  they  employed. 

The  Italian  armies  of  the  fifteenth  century  have  been  remarked 

for  one  striking  peculiarity.      War  has  never  been  conducted  at  so 

little  personal  hazard  to  the  soldier.      Combats  frequently  occur,  in 

the  annals  of  that  age,  wherein  success,  though  warmly  contested, 

1  Machiavelli,    "  History    of    Florence,"    p.    286. 


THE     CONDOTTIERI  255 

1249-1450 

cost  very  few  lives  even  to  the  vanquished.  This  innocence  of  blood, 
which  some  historians  turn  into  ridicule,  was  no  doubt  owing  in  a 
great  degree  to  the  rapacity  of  the  companies  of  adventure,  who,  in 
expectation  of  enriching  themselves  by  the  ransom  of  prisoners, 
were  anxious  to  save  their  lives.  But  it  was  rendered  more  practi- 
cable by  the  nature  of  their  arms.  For  once,  and  for  once  only,  in 
the  history  of  mankind,  the  art  of  defense  had  outstripped  that  of 
destruction.  In  a  charge  of  lancers  many  fell,  unhorsed  by  the 
shock,  and  might  be  suffocated  or  bruised  to  death  by  the  pressure 
of  their  own  armor;  but  the  lance's  point  could  not  penetrate  the 
breastplate,  the  sword  fell  harmless  on  the  helmet,  the  conqueror, 
in  the  first  impulse  of  passion,  could  not  assail  any  vital  part  of  a 
prostrate  but  not  exposed  enemy.  Still  less  was  to  be  dreaded  from 
the  archers  or  cross-bowmen,  who  composed  a  large  part  of  the  in- 
fantry. The  bow  indeed,  as  drawn  by  an  English  foot-soldier,  was 
the  most  formidable  of  arms  before  the  invention  of  gunpowder.  It 
was  a  peculiarly  English  weapon,  and  none  of  the  other  principal 
nations  adopted  it  so  generally  or  so  successfully.  The  cross-bow, 
which  brought  the  strong  and  weak  to  a  level,  was  more  in  favor 
upon  the  Continent. 

Meanwhile  a  discovery  accidentally  made  had  prepared  the  way 
not  only  for  a  change  in  the  military  system,  but  for  political  effects 
still  more  extensive.  There  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  that  gun- 
powder was  introduced  through  the  means  of  the  Saracens  into 
Europe.  Its  use  in  engines  of  war,  though  they  may  seem  to  have 
been  rather  like  our  fireworks  than  artillery,  is  mentioned  by  an 
Arabic  writer  in  the  Escurial  collection  about  the  year  1249.  In 
the  first  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  cannon,  or  rather  mortars, 
were  invented,  and  the  applicability  of  gunpowder  to  purposes  of 
war  was  understood.  But  its  use  was  still  not  very  frequent;  a 
circumstance  which  will  surprise  us  less  when  we  consider  the  un- 
scientific construction  of  artillery ;  the  slowness  with  which  it  could 
be  loaded ;  its  stone  balls,  of  uncertain  aim  and  imperfect  force,  being 
commonly  fired  at  a  considerable  elevation ;  and  especially  the  diffi- 
culty of  removing  it  from  place  to  place  during  an  action.  In  sieges 
and  in  naval  engagements,  as  for  example,  in  the  war  of  Chioggia, 
it  was  more  frequently  employed.  Gradually,  however,  the  new 
artifice  of  evil  gained  ground.  The  French  made  the  principal  im- 
provement. They  cast  their  cannon  smaller,  placed  them  on  lighter 
carriages,  and  used  balls  of  iron.     They  invented  portable  arms  for 


256  ITALY 

1411-1513 

a  single  soldier,  which,  though  clumsy  in  comparison  with  their  pres- 
ent state,  gave  an  augury  of  a  prodigious  revolution  in  the  military 
art.  John,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  141 1,  had  4000  hand-cannons, 
as  they  were  called,  in  his  army.  They  are  found,  under  different 
names  and  modifications  of  form,  in  most  of  the  wars  that  historians 
of  the  fifteenth  century  record,  but  less  in  Italy  than  beyond  the 
Alps.  The  Milanese,  in  1449,  are  said  to  have  armed  their  militia 
with  20,000  muskets,  which  struck  terror  into  the  old  generals.  But 
these  muskets,  supported  on  a  rest,  and  charged  with  great  delay, 
did  less  execution  than  our  sanguinary  science  would  require;  and, 
uncombined  with  the  admirable  invention  of  the  bayonet,  could  not 
in  any  degree  resist  a  charge  of  cavalry.  The  pike  had  a  greater 
tendency  to  subvert  the  military  system  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to 
demonstrate  the  efficiency  of  disciplined  infantry.  Two  free  nations 
had  already  discomfited,  by  the  help  of  such  infantry,  those  arrogant 
knights  on  whom  the  fate  of  battles  had  depended — the  Bohemians, 
instructed  in  the  art  of  war  by  their  great  master,  John  Zisca;  and 
the  Swiss,  who,  after  winning  their  independence  inch  by  inch  from 
the  house  of  Austria,  had  lately  established  their  renown  by  a  splen- 
did victory  over  Charles  of  Burgundy.  Louis  XI.  took  a  body  of 
mercenaries  from  the  United  Cantons  into  pay.  Maximilian  had 
recourse  to  the  same  assistance.  And  though  the  importance  of  in- 
fantry was  not,  perhaps,  decidedly  established  till  the  Milanese  wars 
of  Louis  XII.  and  Francis  I.,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  yet  the  last 
years  of  the  Middle  Ages  indicated  the  commencement  of  that 
military  revolution  in  the  general  employment  of  pikemen  and 
musketeers. 


Chapter    XXXIV 

NAPLES   AND   FLORENCE.     1282-1494 

I  HAVE  not  alluded  for  some  time  to  the  domestic  history  of 
a  kingdom  which  bore  a  considerable  part,  during  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries,  in  the  general  combinations  of 
Italian  policy,  not  wishing  to  interrupt  the  reader's  attention  by  too 
frequent  transitions.  We  must  return  again  to  a  more  remote  age 
in  order  to  take  up  the  history  of  Naples.  Charles  of  Anjou,  after 
the  deaths  of  Manfred  and  Conradin  had  left  him  without  a  com- 
petitor, might  be  ranked  in  the  first  class  of  -European  sovereigns. 
Master  of  Provence  and  Naples,  and  at  the  head  of  the  Guelph  fac- 
tion in  Italy,  he  had  already  prepared  a  formidable  attack  on  the 
Greek  Empire,  when  a  memorable  revolution  in  Sicily  brought 
humiliation  on  his  latter  years.  John  of  Procida,  a  Neapolitan,  whose 
patrimony  had  been  confiscated  for  his  adherence  to  the  party  of 
Manfred,  retained,  during  long  years  of  exile,  an  implacable  resent- 
ment against  the  house  of  Anjou.  Sicily  was  now  treated  as  a  con- 
quered country.  A  large  body  of  French  soldiers  garrisoned  the  for- 
tified towns,  and  the  systematic  oppression  was  aggravated  by  those 
insults  upon  the  honor  of  families  which  are  most  intolerable  to  an 
Italian  temperament.  John  of  Procida  was  for  long  regarded  as 
the  prime  mover  of  the  revolution  of  1282,  and  is  represented  as 
visiting  the  Pope,  the  Eastern  Emperor,  the  King  of  Aragon,  and 
others,  all  with  the  object  of  expelling  the  hated  Angevins;  but  now 
his  part,  though  just  what  it  was  remains  somewhat  in  doubt,  is  less 
emphasized  and  it  is  realized  that  the  causes  of  the  revolution  were 
deep-seated  in  Sicily  itself,  needing  only  an  occasion  to  break  out. 
Finally  an  outrage  committed  upon  a  lady  at  Palermo,  during  a  pro- 
cession on  the  vigil  of  Easter,  provoked  the  people  to  that  terrible 
massacre  of  all  the  French  in  their  island  which  has  obtained  the 
name  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers.  Unpremeditated  as  such  an  ebullition 
of  popular  fury  must  appear,  it  fell  in,  by  the  happiest  coincidence, 
with  the  previous  indications  of  discontent.     The  King  of  Aragon's 

257 


258  ITALY 

1282-1305 

fleet  was  at  hand;  the  Sicilians  soon  called  in  his  assistance;  he 
sailed  to  Palermo,  and  accepted  the  crown  in  1282. 

The  long  war  that  ensued  upon  this  revolution  involved  or  in- 
terested the  greater  part  of  civilized  Europe.  Philip  III.  of  France 
adhered  to  his  uncle,  and  the  King  of  Aragon  was  compelled  to  fight 
for  Sicily  within  his  native  dominions.  This,  indeed,  was  the  more 
vulnerable  point  of  attack.  Upon  the  sea  he  was  supreme.  His 
Catalans,  the  most  intrepid  of  Mediterranean  sailors,  were  led  to 
victory  by  a  Calabrian  refugee,  Roger  di  Loria,  the  most  illustrious 
and  successful  admiral  whom  Europe  produced  till  the  age  of  Blake 
and  De  Ruyter.  In  one  of  Loria's  battles  the  eldest  son  of  the  King 
of  Naples  was  made  prisoner,  and  the  first  years  of  his  own  reign 
were  spent  in  confinement.  But  notwithstanding  these  advantages, 
it  was  found  impracticable  for  Aragon  to  contend  against  the  arms 
of  France,  and  latterly  of  Castile,  sustained  by  the  rolling  thunders 
of  the  Vatican.  Peter  III.  had  bequeathed  Sicily  to  his  second  son, 
James;  Alfonso,  the  eldest,  King  of  Aragon,  could  not  fairly  be  ex- 
pected to  ruin  his  inheritance  for  his  brother's  cause;  nor  were  the 
barons  of  that  free  country  disposed  to  carry  on  a  war  without  na- 
tional objects.  He  made  peace,  accordingly,  in  1295,  and  engaged 
to  withdraw  all  his  subjects  from  the  Sicilian  service.  Upon  his 
own  death,  which  followed  very  soon,  James  succeeded  to  the  king- 
dom of  Aragon,  and  ratified  the  renunciation  of  Sicily.  But  the 
natives  of  that  island  had  received  too  deeply  the  spirit  of  independ- 
ence to  be  thus  assigned  over  by  the  letter  of  a  treaty.  After  sol- 
emnly abjuring,  by  their  ambassadors,  their  allegiance  to  the  King 
of  Aragon,  they  placed  the  crown  upon  the  head  of  his  brother, 
Frederick.  They  maintained  the  war  against  Charles  II.  of  Naples, 
against  James  of  Aragon,  their  former  king,  who  had  bound  himself 
to  enforce  their  submission,  and  even  against  the  great  Roger  di 
Loria,  who,  upon  some  discontent  with  Frederick,  deserted  their 
banner,  and  entered  into  the  Neapolitan  service.  Peace  was  at 
length  made  in  1300,  upon  condition  that  Frederick  should  retain 
during  his  life  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  which  was  afterward  to  re- 
vert to  the  crown  of  Naples :  a  condition  not  likely  to  be  fulfilled.  In 
fact  the  two  kingdoms  remained  distinct  till  the  middle  of  the  fif- 
teenth century. 

Upon  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  King  of  Naples,  in  1305,  a  ques- 
tion arose  as  to  the  succession.  His  eldest  son,  Charles  Martel,  had 
been  called  by  maternal  inheritance  to  the  throne  of  Hungary,  and 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE 


259 


KINGS    OF   NAPLES    OF   THE   HOUSE    OF   ANJOU. 

Charles  I.  of  Anjou,  son  of  Louis  VIII.,  King  of  France,  and  brother  of 

Louis    IX.,    King   of   France,    becomes    King    of    Naples   and    Sicily, 

1265   a.  d.     Loses    Sicily,    1283,    d.    1285. 

Charles   II., 

m.  daughter  of  King  of  Hungary, 

1285-1305. 


Charles  Martel 

King  of  Hungary 

d.  1296. 

Carobert 
King  of 
Hungary 
d.   1342. 


I. 
Louis 
King  of 
Hungary 


Andrew 

.  Joanna  I. 

strangled 

I34S- 


I 

Robert, 
I305-I343- 


Charles. 
Duke  of 
Calabria, 
d.  1328. 

Joanna  I., 
1.  Andrew  of 
Hungary, 
and  other 
husbands, 
1343-1378. 


John, 
Duke    of   Durazzo. 


Charles. 

Duke  of 
Durazzo. 

I 
Margaret, 
Charles  III. 

King  of 

Naples. 


Louis. 

Charles  III., 

king 

1382-1386. 

m.  Margaret 

of  Durazzo. 


Ladislaus, 

King  of  Naples, 

1386-1414. 


Joanna  II., 
1414-1435. 


KINGS   OF   SICILY  OF  THE  HOUSE   OF  ARAGON. 

Peter   III.    (King  of  Aragon),   m.    Constance,   daughter   of   Manfred   of   Suabia 

and  becomes  King  of  Sicily  after  the  Sicilian  Vespers, 

1283     a.  d.,   d.    1285. 


Alfonso  III., 
King  of  Aragon. 


James  II., 

King  of  Aragon. 

and  King  of  Sicily, 

of  Charles  II., 

abdicates  in  favor 

King  of  Naples, 

1295. 


Frederick  I., 
elected  King  of 
Sicily, 
1 296- 1 336. 

Peter  II., 

King  of  Sicily, 

I336-I342- 


Louis, 

King  of   Sicily, 

I342-I355. 


Frederick  II., 

King  of   Sicily, 

1355-1377- 

Maria, 
Queen   of   Sicily, 

1377-1402. 

m.   Martin,    Prince 

of  Aragon. 


TITULAR  KINGS  OF  NAPLES  OF  THE  SECOND  HOUSE  OF  ANJOU. 

Louis  I.,   Duke  of  Anjou,   son  of  John,   King  of  France, 

and  uncle  of  Charles  VL,   King  of  France,  was  adopted  by  Joanna  I.  as 
of 

Louis   II., 


King  of  Naples,  d.    1384. 


Titular  King  of  Naples, 
1 384-14 1 7- 


Louis  III., 
Titular  King  of  Naples, 
1417-1434. 


Regnier, 

Titular  King  of  Naples, 

1 434- 1 480. 


260  ITALY 

1305-1352 

had  left  at  his  decease  a  son,  Carobert,  the  reigning  sovereign  of 
that  country.  According  to  the  laws  of  representative  succession, 
which  were  at  this  time  tolerably  settled  in  private  inheritance,  the 
crown  of  Naples  ought  to  have  regularly  devolved  upon  that  prince. 
But  it  was  contested  by  his  uncle,  Robert,  eldest  living  son  of  Charles 
IT.,  and  the  cause  was  pleaded  by  civilians  at  Avignon  before  Pope 
Clement  V.,  the  feudal  superior  of  the  Neapolitan  kingdom.  Rea- 
sons of  public  utility,  rather  than  of  legal  analogy,  seem  to  have 
prevailed  in  the  decision  which  was  made  in  favor  of  Robert.  The 
course  of  his  reign  evinced  the  wisdom  of  this  determination. 
Robert,  a  wise  and  active,  though  not  personally  a  martial  prince, 
maintained  the  ascendency  of  the  Guelph  faction,  and  the  papal  in- 
fluence connected  with  it,  against  the  formidable  combination  of 
Ghibelline  usurpers  in  Lombardy,  and  the  two  emperors,  Henry  VII. 
and  Louis  of  Bavaria.  No  male  issue  survived  Robert,  whose  crown 
descended  to  his  granddaughter  Joanna.  She  had  been  espoused, 
while  a  child,  to  her  cousin  Andrew,  son  of  Carobert,  King  of 
Hungary,  who  was  educated  with  her  in  the  court  of  Naples.  Aus- 
piciously contrived  as  this  union  might  seem  to  silence  a  subsisting 
claim  upon  the  kingdom,  it  proved  eventually  the  source  of  civil  war 
and  calamity  for  150  years.  Andrew's  manners  were  barbarous, 
more  worthy  of  his  native  country  than  of  that  polished  court 
wherein  he  had  been  bred.  He  gave  himself  up  to  the  society  of 
Hungarians,  who  taught  him  to  believe  that  a  matrimonial  crown 
and  derivative  royalty  were  derogatory  to  a  prince  who  claimed  by  a 
paramount  hereditary  right.  In  fact,  he  was  pressing  the  court 
of  Avignon  to  permit  his  own  coronation,  which  would  have  placed 
in  a  very  hazardous  condition  the  rights  of  the  queen,  with  whom  he 
was  living  on  ill  terms,  when  one  night  he  was  seized,  strangled, 
and  thrown  out  of  a  window.  Public  rumor,  in  the  absence  of  no- 
torious proof,  imputed  the  guilt  of  this  mysterious  assassination  to 
Joanna.  Whether  historians  are  authorized  to  assume  her  partici- 
pation in  it  so  confidently  as  they  have  generally  done,  may  per- 
haps be  doubted ;  but  the  circumstances  of  Andrew's  death  were 
undoubtedly  pregnant  with  strong  suspicion.  Louis,  King  of  Hun- 
gary, his  brother,  a  just  and  stern  prince,  invaded  Naples,  partly 
as  an  avenger,  partly  as  a  conquerer.  The  queen  and  her  second 
husband,  Louis  of  Tarentum,  fled  to  Provence,  where  her  acquittal, 
after  a  solemn  investigation,  was  pronounced  by  Clement  VI. 
Louis,    meanwhile,    found    it    more    difficult    to    retain    than    to 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  261 

1352-1386 

acquire  the  kingdom  of  Naples;  his  own  dominion  required  his 
presence;  and  Joanna  soon  recovered  her  crown.  She  reigned  for 
thirty  years  more  without  the  attack  of  any  enemy,  but  not  inter- 
meddling, like  her  progenitors,  in  the  general  concerns  of  Italy. 
Childless  by  four  husbands,  the  succession  of  Joanna  began  to  excite 
ambitious  speculations.  Of  all  the  male  descendants  of  Charles  I. 
none  remained  but  the  King  of  Hungary,  and  Charles,  Duke  of 
Durazzo,  who  had  married  the  queen's  niece,  and  was  regarded  by 
her  as  the  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown.  But,  offended  by  her 
marriage  with  Otho  of  Brunswick,  he  procured  the  assistance  of  a 
Hungarian  army  to  invade  the  kingdom,  and,  getting  the  queen  into 
his  power,  took  possession  of  the  throne.  In  this  enterprise  he  was 
seconded  by  Urban  VI.,  against  whom  Joanna  had  unfortunately 
declared  in  the  great  schism  of  the  Church.  She  was  smothered 
with  a  pillow,  in  prison,  by  the  order  of  Charles. 

In  the  extremity  of  Joanna's  distress  she  had  sought  assist- 
ance from  a  quarter  too  remote  to  afford  it  in  time  for  her  relief. 
She  adopted  Louis,  Duke  of  Anjou,  eldest  uncle  of  the  young  King 
of  France,  Charles  VI.,  as  her  heir  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and 
county  of  Provence.  This  bequest  took  effect  without  difficulty 
in  the  latter  country.  Naples  was  entirely  in  the  possession  of 
Charles  of  Durazzo.  Louis,  however,  entered  Italy  with  a  very 
large  army,  consisting  of  at  least  30,000  cavalry,  and,  according 
to  some  writers,  more  than  double  that  number.  He  was  joined 
by  many  Neapolitan  barons  attached  to  the  late  queen.  But,  by 
a  fate  not  unusual  is  so  imperfect  a  state  of  military  science,  their 
armament  produced  no  adequate  effect,  and  moldered  away 
through  disease  and  want  of  provisions.  Louis  himself  dying  not 
long  afterward,  the  government  of  Charles  III.  appeared  secure, 
and  he  was  tempted  to  accept  an  offer  of  the  crown  of  Hungary. 
This  enterprise,  equally  unjust  and  injudicious,  terminated  in  his 
assassination.  Ladislaus,  his  son,  a  child  ten  years  old,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  of  Naples,  under  the  guardianship  of  his 
mother,  Margaret,  whose  exactions  of  money  producing  discontent, 
the  party  which  had  supported  the  late  Duke  of  Anjou  became 
powerful  enough  to  call  in  his  son.  Louis  II.,  as  he  was  called, 
reigned  at  Naples,  and  possessed  most  part  of  the  kingdom  for 
several  years;  the  young  King  Ladislaus,  who  retained  some  of 
the  northern  provinces,  fixing  his  residence  at  Gaeta.  If  Louis 
had  prosecuted  the  war  with  activity,  it  seems  probable  that    he 


262  ITALY 

1386-1435 

would  have  subdued  his  adversary.  But  his  character  was  not 
very  energetic;  and  Ladislaus,  as  he  advanced  to  manhood,  dis- 
playing many  superior  qualities,  gained  ground  by  degrees,  till  the 
Angevin  barons,  perceiving  the  turn  of  the  tide,  came  over  to  his 
banner,  and  he  recovered  his  whole  dominions. 

The  kingdom  of  Naples,  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, was  still  altogether  a  feudal  government.  This  had  been  in- 
troduced by  the  first  Norman  kings,  and  the  system  had  rather  been 
strengthened  than  impaired  under  the  Angevin  line.  The  princes 
of  the  blood,  who  were  at  one  time  numerous,  obtained  extensive 
domains  by  way  of  appanage.  The  principality  of  Tarentum  was  a 
large  portion  of  the  kingdom.  The  rest  was  occupied  by  some  great 
families,  whose  strength,  as  well  as  pride,  was  shown  in  the  number 
of  men-at-arms  whom  they  could  muster  under  their  banner.  After 
thoroughly  establishing  his  government  at  home,  Ladislaus  directed 
his  powerful  resources  toward  foreign  conquests.  The  ecclesiastical 
territories  had  never  been  secure  from  rebellion  or  usurpation ;  but 
legitimate  sovereigns  had  hitherto  respected  the  patrimony  of  the 
head  of  the  church.  It  was  reserved  for  Ladislaus,  a  feudal  vassal 
of  the  Holy  See,  to  seize  upon  Rome  itself  as  his  spoil.  For  several 
years,  while  the  disordered  state  of  the  church,  in  consequence  of  the 
schism  and  the  means  taken  to  extinguish  it,  gave  him  an  opportu- 
nity, the  King  of  Naples  occupied  a  great  part  of  the  papal  terri- 
tories. He  was  disposed  to  have  carried  his  arms  farther  north, 
and  attacked  the  republic  of  Florence,  if  not  the  states  of  Lombardy, 
when  his  death  relieved  Italy  of  this  new  tyranny. 

An  elder  sister,  Joanna  II.,  reigned  at  Naples  after  Ladislaus. 
Under  this  queen,  destitute  of  courage  and  understanding,  and  the 
slave  of  appetites  which  her  age  rendered  doubly  disgraceful,  the 
kingdom  relapsed  into  that  state  of  anarchy  from  which  its  late 
sovereign  had  rescued  it.  She  adopted  first,  as  her  heir  and  suc- 
cessor, Alfonso,  King  of  Aragon  and  Sicily,  but  subsequently  re- 
voked her  adoption,  and  substituted  in  his  room  another,  Louis  of 
Anjou,  third  in  descent  of  that  unsuccessful  dynasty.  Upon  his 
death,  the  queen,  who  did  not  long  survive  him,  settled  the  king- 
dom on  his  brother  Regnier.  The  Neapolitans  were  generally  dis- 
posed to  execute  this  bequest.  But  Regnier  was  unluckily  at  that 
time  a  prisoner  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  though  his  wife 
maintained  the  cause  with  great  spirit,  it  was  difficult  for  her,  or 
even  for  himself,  to  contend  against  the  King  of  Aragon,    who 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  263 

1435-1450 

immediately  laid  claim  to  the  kingdom.  After  a  contest  of  sev- 
eral years,  Regnier,  having  experienced  the  treacherous  and  selfish 
abandonment  of  his  friends,  yielded  the  game  to  his  adversary; 
and  Alfonso  founded  the  Aragonese  line  of  sovereigns  at  Naples, 
deriving  pretensions  more  splendid  than  just  from  Manfred,  from 
the  house  of  Suabia,  and  from  Roger  Guiscard. 

Sicily,  after  the  reign  of  its  deliverer,  Frederick  I.,  had  un- 
fortunately devolved  upon  weak  or  infant  princes.  The  marriage 
of  Maria,  Queen  of  Sicily,  with  Martin,  son  of  the  King  of  Ara- 
gon,  put  an  end  to  the  national  independence  of  her  country. 
Dying  without  issue,  she  left  the  crown  to  her  husband.  This  was 
consonant,  perhaps,  to  the  received  law  of  some  European  king- 
doms. But,  upon  the  death  of  Martin,  in  1409,  his  father,  also 
named  Martin,  King  of  Aragon,  took  possession  as  heir  to  his  son, 
without  any  election  by  the  Sicilian  Parliament.  Thus  was  Sicily 
united  to  the  crown  of  Aragon.  Alfonso  now  enjoyed  the  three 
crowns  of  Aragon,  Sicily,  and  Naples. 

In  the  first  year  of  Alfonso's  Neapolitan  war  he  was  defeated 
and  taken  prisoner  by  a  fleet  of  the  Genoese,  who,  as  constant  ene- 
mies of  the  Catalans  in  all  the  naval  warfare  of  the  Mediterranean, 
had  willingly  lent  their  aid  to  the  Angevin  party.  Genoa  was  at 
this  time  subject  to  Filippo  Maria,  Duke  of  Milan,  and  her  royal 
captive  was  transmitted  to  his  court.  But  here  the  brilliant  graces 
of  Alfonso's  character  won  over  his  conqueror,  who  had  no  reason 
to  consider  the  war  as  his  own  concern.  The  king  persuaded  him, 
on  the  contrary,  that  a  strict  alliance  with  an  Aragonese  dynasty 
in  Naples  against  the  pretensions  of  any  French  claimant  would 
be  the  true  policy  and  best  security  of  Milan.  In  the  words  of 
Machiavelli : *  "  Alfonso  was  a  man  of  great  sagacity,  and  as 
soon  as  an  opportunity  presented  itself  of  communicating  with 
Filippo,  he  proved  to  him  how  completely  he  contravened  his 
own  interests,  by  favoring  Rene  (Regnier)  and  opposing  himself; 
for  it  would  be  the  business  of  the  former,  on  becoming  King  of 
Naples,  to  introduce  the  French  into  Milan."  That  city,  which 
he  had  entered  as  a  prisoner,  he  left  as  a  friend  and  ally.  From 
this  time  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  and  Alfonso  were  firmly  united 
in  their  Italian  politics  and  formed  one  weight  of  the  balance 
which  the  republics  of  Venice  and  Florence  kept  in  equipoise. 
After  the  succession  of  Sforza  to  the  duchy  of  Milan  the  same 
alliance  was  generally  preserved.  Sforza  had  still  more  power- 
1  Machiavelli,  "  History  of  Florence,"  p.  210. 


264  ITALY 

1450-1458 

ful  reasons  than  his  predecessors  for  excluding  the  French  from 
Italy,  his  own  title  being  contested  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who 
derived  a  claim  from  his  mother  Valentina,  a  daughter  of  Gian 
Galeazzo  Visconti.  But  the  two  republics  were  no  longer  disposed 
toward  war.  Florence  had  spent  a  great  deal  without  any  ad- 
vantage in  her  contest  with  Filippo  Maria ;  and  the  new  Duke  of 
Milan  had  been  the  constant  personal  friend  of  Cosmo  de'  Medici, 
who  altogether  influenced  that  republic.  At  Venice,  indeed,  he 
had  been  at  first  regarded  with  very  different  sentiments ;  the  Sen- 
ate had  prolonged  their  war  against  Milan  with  redoubled  animos- 
ity after  his  elevation,  deeming  him  a  not  less  ambitious  and  more 
formidable  neighbor  than  the  Visconti.  But  they  were  deceived 
in  the  character  of  Sforza.  Conscious  that  he  had  reached  an  emi- 
nence beyond  his  early  hopes,  he  had  no  care  but  to  secure  for  his 
family  the  possession  of  Milan,  without  disturbing  the  balance  of 
Lombardy.  Venice  had  little  reason  to  expect  further  conquests 
in  Lombardy;  and  if  her  ambition  had  inspired  the  hope  of  them, 
she  was  summoned  by  a  stronger  call,  that  of  self-preservation,  to 
defend  her  numerous  and  dispersed  possessions  in  the  Levant 
against  the  arms  of  Mohammed  II.  All  Italy,  indeed,  felt  the  peril 
that  impended  from  that  side ;  and  these  various  motions  occasioned 
a  quadruple  league  in  1455,  between  the  King  of  Naples,  the  Duke 
of  Milan,  and  the  two  republics,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  in 
Italy.  One  object  of  this  alliance,  and  the  prevailing  object  with 
Alfonso,  was  the  implied  guaranty  of  his  succession  in  the  king- 
dom of  Naples  to  his  illegitimate  son  Ferdinand.  He  had  no  law- 
ful issue,  and  there  seemed  no  reason  why  an  acquisition  of  his 
own  valor  should  pass  against  his  will  to  collateral  heirs.  The 
Pope,  as  feudal  superior  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  Neapolitan  Par- 
liament, the  sole  competent  tribunal,  confirmed  the  inheritance  of 
Ferdinand. 

Alfonso,  surnamed  the  Magnanimous,  was  by  far  the  most  ac- 
complished sovereign  whom  the  fifteenth  century  produced  in  Italy. 
The  virtues  of  chivalry  were  combined  in  him  with  the  patronage 
of  letters,  and  with  more  than  their  patronage,  a  real  enthusiasm 
for  learning,  seldom  found  in  a  king,  and  especially  in  one  so  active 
and  ambitious.  This  devotion  to  literature  was,  among  the  Italians 
of  that  age,  almost  as  sure  a  passport  to  general  admiration  as  his 
most  chivalrous  perfection.  Magnificence  in  architecture  and  the 
pageantry  of  a  splendid  court  gave  fresh  luster  to  his  reign.     The 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  265 

1458-1476 

Neapolitan  perceived  with  grateful  pride  that  he  lived  almost  en- 
tirely among  them,  in  preference  to  his  patrimonial  kingdom;  and 
forgave  the  heavy  taxes  which  faults  nearly  allied  to  his  virtues, 
profuseness  and  ambition,  compelled  him  to  impose.  But  they 
remarked  a  very  different  character  in  his  son.  Ferdinand  was  as 
dark  and  vindictive  as  his  father  was  affable  and  generous.  The 
barons,  who  had  many  opportunities  of  ascertaining  his  disposition, 
began  immediately  upon  Alfonso's  death  to  cabal  against  his  suc- 
cession, turning  their  eyes  first  to  the  legitimate  branch  of  the 
family,  and  on  finding  that  prospect  not  favorable,  to  John,  titular 
Duke  of  Calabria,  son  of  Regnier  of  Anjou,  who  survived  to  pro- 
test against  the  revolution  that  had  dethroned  him.  John  was  easily 
prevailed  upon  to  undertake  an  invasion  of  Naples,  but  he  under- 
went the  fate  that  had  always  attended  his  family  in  their  long 
competition  for  that  throne.  After  some  brilliant  successes,  his 
want  of  resources,  aggravated  by  the  defection  of  Genoa,  on  whose 
ancient  enmity  of  the  house  of  Aragon  he  had  relied,  was  perceived 
by  the  barons  of  his  party,  who,  according  to  the  practice  of  their 
ancestors,  returned  one  by  one  to  the  allegiance  of  Ferdinand. 

The  peace  of  Italy  was  little  disturbed,  except  by  a  few  do- 
mestic revolutions,  for  several  years  after  this  Neapolitan  war. 
Even  the  most  short-sighted  politicians  were  sometimes  withdrawn 
from  selfish  objects  by  the  appalling  progress  of  the  Turks,  though 
there  was  not  energy  enough  in  their  councils  to  form  any  concerted 
plans  for  their  own  security.  Venice  maintained  a  long  but  un- 
successful contest  with  Mohammed  II.  for  her  maritime  acquisi- 
tions in  Greece  and  Albania ;  and  it  was  not  till  after  his  death  re- 
lieved Italy  from  its  immediate  terror  that  the  ambitious  republic 
endeavored  to  extend  its  territories  by  encroaching  on  the  house 
of  Este.  Nor  had  Milan  shown  much  disposition  toward  aggran- 
dizement. Franceso  Sforza  had  been  succeeded — such  is  the  con- 
dition of  despotic  governments — by  his  son  Galeazzo,  a  tyrant  more 
execrable  than  the  worst  of  the  Visconti.  Flis  extreme  cruelties, 
and  the  insolence  of  a  debauchery  that  gloried  in  the  public  dis- 
honor of  families,  excited  a  few  daring  spirits  to  assassinate  him. 
The  Milanese  profited  by  a  tyrannicide  the  perpetrators  of  which 
they  had  not  courage  or  gratitude  to  protect.  The  regency  of 
Bonne  of  Savoy,  mother  of  the  infant  Duke  Gian  Galeazzo,  de- 
served the  praise  of  wisdom  and  moderation.  But  it  was  over- 
thrown in  a  few  years  by  Ludovico  Sforza,  surnamed  the  Moor,  her 


266 


ITALY 


1382-1432 

husband's  brother,  who,  while  he  proclaimed  his  nephew's  majority, 
and  affected  to  treat  him  as  a  sovereign,  hardly  disguised  in  his  con- 
duct toward  foreign  states  that  he  had  usurped  for  himself  the  sole 
direction  of  government.  The  annals  of  one  of  the  few  surviving 
republics,  that  of  Genoa,  present  to  us,  during  the  fifteenth  as  well 


as  the  preceding  century,  an  unceasing  series  of  revolutions,    the 
shortest  enumeration  of  which  would  occupy  several  pages. 

Florence,  the  most  illustrious  and  fortunate  of  Italian  repub- 
lics, was  now  rapidly  descending  from  her  rank  among  free  com- 
monwealths, though  surrounded  with  more  than  usual  luster  in 
the  eyes  of  Europe.  We  must  take  up  the  story  of  that  city  from 
the  revolution  of  1382,  which  restored  the  ancient  Guelph  aris- 
tocracy, or  party  of  the  Albizi,  to  the  ascendency  of  which  a  popu- 
lar insurrection  had  stripped  them.  Fifty  years  elapsed  during 
which  this  party  retained  the  government  in  its  own  hands  with 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  267 

1432-1433 

few  attempts  at  disturbance.  Their  principal  adversaries  had  been 
exiled,  according  to  the  invariable  and  perhaps  necessary  custom 
of  a  republic;  the  populace  and  inferior  artisans  were  dispirited  by 
their  ill-success.  But,  while  crushing  with  deliberate  severity  their 
avowed  adversaries,  the  ruling  party  had  left  one  family  whose 
prudence  gave  no  reasonable  excuse  for  persecuting  them,  and 
whose  popularity,  as  well  as  wealth,  rendered  the  experiment  haz- 
ardous. The  Medici  were  among  the  most  considerable  of  the  new 
or  plebeian  nobility.  From  the  first  years  of  the  fourteenth  century 
their  name  not  very  unfrequently  occurs  in  the  domestic  and  mili- 
tary annals  of  Florence.  Throughout  the  long  depression  of  the 
popular  faction  the  house  of  Medici  was  always  regarded  as  their 
consolation  and  their  hope.  That  house  was  now  represented  by 
Giovanni,  whose  immense  wealth,  honorably  acquired  by  commer- 
cial dealings,  which  had  already  rendered  the  name  celebrated  in 
Europe,  was  expended  with  liberality  and  magnificence.  Of  a  mild 
temper,  and  averse  to  cabals,  Giovanni  de'  Medici  did  not  attempt 
to  set  up  a  party,  and  contented  himself  with  repressing  some  fresh 
encroachments  on  the  popular  part  of  the  constitution  which  the 
Albizi  were  disposed  to  make.  They,  in  their  turn,  freely  admitted 
him  to  that  share  in  public  councils  to  which  he  was  entitled  by  his 
eminence  and  virtues :  a  proof  that  the  spirit  of  their  administra- 
tion was  not  illiberally  exclusive.  But.  on  the  death  of  Giovanni, 
his  son  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  inheriting  his  father's  riches  and  esti- 
mation, with  more  talents  and  more  ambition,  thought  it  time  to 
avail  himself  of  the  popularity  belonging  to  his  name.  By  exten- 
sive connections  with  the  most  eminent  men  in  Italy,  especially 
with  Sforza,  he  came  to  be  considered  as  the  first  citizen  of  Flor- 
ence. "Cosmo,"  says  Machiavelli,  "was  one  of  the  most  prudent 
of  men,  of  grave  and  courteous  demeanor,  extremely  liberal  and  hu- 
mane. He  never  attempted  anything  against  parties,  or  against 
rulers,  but  was  bountiful  to  all,  and  by  the  unwearied  generosity 
of  his  disposition  made  himself  partisans  of  all  ranks  of  the 
citizens."  2  The  oligarchy  were  more  than  ever  unpopular.  Their 
administration  since  1382  had  indeed  been  in  general  eminently 
successful;  the  acquisition  of  Pisa  and  of  other  Tuscan  cities  had 
aggrandized  the  republic,  while  from  the  port  of  Leghorn  her  ships 
had  begun  to  trade  with  Alexandria,  and  sometimes  to  con-tend 
with  the  Genoese.  But  an  unprosperous  war  with  Lucca  diminished 
a  reputation  which  was  never  sustained  by  public  affection.  Cosmo 
2  Machiavelli,  "  History  of  Florence,"  p.  188. 


268  ITALY 

1433-1469 

and  his  friends  aggravated  the  errors  of  the  government,  which, 
having  lost  its  wise  and  temperate  leader,  Nicola  di  Uzzano,  had 
fallen  into  the  rasher  hands  of  Rinaldo  degl'  Albizi.  He  incurred 
the  blame  of  being  the  first  aggressor  in  a  struggle  which  had  be- 
come inevitable.  Cosmo  was  arrested  by  command  of  a  gonfal- 
onier devoted  to  the  Albizi,  and  condemned  to  banishment  (1433). 
But  the  oligarchy  had  done  too  much  or  too  little.  The  city  was 
full  of  his  friends;  the  honors  conferred  upon  him  in  his  exile  at- 
tested the  sentiments  of  Italy.  Next  year  he  was  recalled  in  tri- 
umph to  Florence,  and  the  Albizi  were  completely  overthrown. 

It  is  vain  to  expect  that  a  victorious  faction  will  scruple  to 
retaliate  upon  its  enemies  a  still  greater  measure  of  injustice  than 
it  experienced  at  their  hands.  The  Albizi  had  in  general  respected 
the  legal  forms  of  their  free  republic,  which  good  citizens,  and  per- 
haps themselves  might  hope  one  day  to  see  more  effective.  The 
Medici  made  all  their  government  conducive  to  hereditary  monarchy. 
A  multitude  of  noble  citizens  were  driven  from  their  country ;  some 
were  even  put  to  death.  A  balia3  was  appointed  for  ten  years  to 
exclude  all  the  Albizi  from  magistracy,  and  for  the.  sake  of  this 
security  to  the  ruling  faction,  to  supersede  the  legitimate  institu- 
tions of  the  republic.  After  the  expiration  of  this  period,  the  dic- 
tatorial power  was  renewed  on  pretense  of  fresh  danger,  and  this 
was  repeated  constantly.  Cosmo  died  at  an  advanced  age,  in  1464. 
His  son,  Piero  de'  Medici,  though  not  deficient  either  in  virtues  or 
abilities,  seemed  too  infirm  in  health  for  the  administration  of 
public  affairs.  A  strong  opposition  was  raised  to  the  family  preten- 
sions of  the  Medici.  Like  all  Florentine  factions,  it  trusted  to 
violence ;  and  the  chance  of  arms  was  not  in  its  favor.  From  this 
revolution  in  1466,  when  some  of  the  most  considerable  citizens  were 
banished,  we  may  date  an  acknowledged  supremacy  in  the  house  of 
Medici,  the  chief  of  which  nominated  the  regular  magistrates,  and 
drew  to  himself  the  whole  conduct  of  the  republic. 

The  two  sons  of  Piero,  Lorenzo  and  Julian,  especially  the 
former,  though  young  at  their  father's  death,  assumed,  by  the 
request  of  their  friends,  the  reins  of  government  (1469).  It  was 
impossible  that,  among  a  people  who  had  so  many  recollections  to 
attach  to  the  name  of  liberty,  among  so  many  citizens  whom  their 

8  A  balia  was  a  temporary  delegation  of  sovereignty  to  a  number,  generally 
a  considerable  number  of  citizens,  who  during  the  period  of  their  dictatorship 
named  the  magistrates,  instead  of  drawing  them  by  lot,  and  banished  suspected 
individuals. 


ASSASSINATION    OF    JULIAN    DE'     MEDICI    DURING     HOLY    MASS    IN    THE 
CATHEDRAL    OF    FLORENCE.    BY    THE    ADHERENTS    OF   THE 
PAZZI     FAMILY,     14/8     A.  I). 
Painting  by  A.  Zick 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  269 

1409-1492 

ancient  constitution  invited  to  public  trust,  the  control  of  a  single 
family  should  excite  no  dissatisfaction.  But,  if  the  people's  wish 
to  resign  their  freedom  gives  a  title  to  accept  the  government  of 
a  country,  the  Medici  were  no  usurpers.  That  family  never  lost 
the  affections  of  the  populace.  The  cry  of  "  Palle,  Palle"  (their 
armorial  distinction)  would  at  any  time  rouse  the  Florentines  to 
defend  the  chosen  patrons  of  the  republic.  If  their  substantial  in- 
fluence could  before  be  questioned,  the  conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi, 
wherein  Julian  perished,  excited  an  enthusiasm  for  the  surviving 
brother  that  never  ceased  during  his  life.  Nor  was  this  anything 
unnatural,  or  any  severe  reproach  to  Florence.  All  around,  in  Lom- 
bardy  and  Romagna,  the  lamp  of  liberty  had  long  since  been  ex- 
tinguished in  blood.  The  freedom  of  Siena  and  Genoa  was  dearly 
purchased  by  revolutionary  proscriptions ;  that  of  Venice  was  only 
a  name.  The  republic  which  had  preserved  longest,  and  with 
greatest  purity,  that  vestal  fire,  had  at  least  no  relative  degradation 
to  fear  in  surrendering  herself  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici.  I  need  not 
in  this  place  expatiate  upon  what  the  name  instantly  suggests — the 
patronage  of  science  and  art,  and  the  constellation  of  scholars 
and  poets,  of  architects  and  painters,  whose  reflected  beams  cast 
their  radiance  around  his  head.  His  political  reputation,  though 
far  less  durable,  was  in  his  own  age  as  conspicuous  as  that  which 
he  acquired  in  the  history  of  letters.  Equally  active  and  sagacious, 
he  held  his  way  through  the  varying  combinations  of  Italian  policy, 
always  with  credit,  and  generally  with  success.  Florence,  if  not 
enriched,  was,  upon  the  whole  aggrandized  during  his  administra- 
tion, which  was  exposed  to  some  severe  storms  from  the  unscrupu- 
lous adversaries,  Sixtus  IV.  and  Ferdinand  of  Naples,  whom  he 
was  compelled  to  resist.  As  a  patriot,  indeed,  we  never  can  bestow 
upon  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  the  meed  of  disinterested  virtue.  He  com- 
pleted that  subversion  of  the  Florentine  republic  which  his  two 
immediate  ancestors  had  so  well  prepared.  The  two  councils,  her 
regular  legislature,  he  superseded  by  a  permanent  Senate  of  seventy 
persons,  while  the  gonfalonier  and  priors  became  a  mockery  and 
pageant  to  keep  up  the  illusion  of  liberty,  were  taught  that  in  exer- 
cising a  legitimate  authority  without  the  sanction  of  their  prince — 
a  name  now  first  heard  at  Florence — they  incurred  the  risk  of 
punishment  for  their  audacity.  Even  the  total  dilapidation  of  his 
commercial  wealth  was  repaired  at  the  cost  of  the  state ;  and  the  re- 
public disgracefully  screened  the  bankruptcy  of  the  Medici  by  her 


270  ITALY 

1492-1493 

own.  But  compared  with  the  statesmen  of  his  age,  we  can  reproach 
Lorenzo  with  no  heinous  crime.  He  had  many  enemies ;  his  descend- 
ants had  many  more ;  but  no  unequivocal  charge  of  treachery  or 
assassination  has  been  substantiated  against  his  memory.  So  much 
was  Lorenzo  esteemed  by  his  contemporaries  that  his  premature 
death  has  frequently  been  considered  as  the  cause  of  those  unhappy 
revolutions  that  speedily  ensued,  and  which  his  foresight  would, 
it  is  imagined,  have  been  able  to  prevent,  an  opinion  which,  whether 
founded  in  probability  or  otherwise,  attests  the  common  sentiment 
about  his  character  ( 1492).  "  His  skill,  prudence,  and  fortune  were 
acknowledged  with  admiration,  not  only  by  the  princes  of  Italy, 
but  by  those  of  distant  countries.  .  .  .  Nor  was  there  ever  in 
Florence,  or  even  in  Italy,  one  so  celebrated  for  wisdom,  or  for 
whose  loss  such  universal  regret  was  felt.  .  .  .  The  citizens 
and  all  the  princes  of  Italy  mourned  for  him  and  sent  their  ambas- 
sadors to  Florence  to  condole  with  the  city  on  that  occasion."  4 

If,  indeed,  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  could  not  have  changed  the 
destinies  of  Italy,  however  premature  his  death  may  appear  if  we 
consider  the  ordinary  duration  of  human  existence,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  for  his  own  welfare,  perhaps  for  his  glory,  he  had 
lived  out  the  full  measure  of  his  time.  An  age  of  new  and  uncom- 
mon revolutions  was  about  to  arise,  among  the  earliest  of  which 
the  temporary  downfall  of  his  family  was  to  be  reckoned.  The 
long-contested  succession  of  Naples  was  again  to  involve  Italy  in 
war.  The  ambition  of  strangers  was  once  more  to  desolate  her 
plains.  Ferdinand,  King  of  Naples,  had  reigned  for  thirty  years 
after  the  discomfiture  of  his  competitor  with  success  and  ability, 
but  with  a  degree  of  ill  faith  as  well  as  tyranny  toward  his  sub- 
jects that  rendered  his  government  deservedly  odious.  His  son 
Alfonso,  whose  succession  seemed  now  near  at  hand,  was  still  more 
marked  by  these  vices  than  himself.  Meanwhile,  the  pretensions 
of  the  house  of  An j oil  had  legally  descended,  after  the  death  of  old 
Regnier,  to  Regnier,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  his  grandson  by  a  daugh- 
ter, whose  marriage  into  the  house  of  Lorraine  had,  however,  so 
displeased  her  father  that  he  bequeathed  his  Neapolitan  title,  along 
with  his  real  patrimony,  the  county  of  Provence,  to  a  Count  of 
Maine,  by  whose  testament  they  became  vested  in  the  crown  of 
France.  Louis  XL,  while  he  took  possession  of  Provence,  gave 
himself  no  trouble  about  Naples.  But  Charles  VIII.,  inheriting  his 
father's  ambition  without  that  cool  sagacity  which  restrained  it  in 
4  Machiavelli,  "History  of  Florence,"  p.  402. 


NAPLES     AND     FLORENCE  271 

1493-1494 

general  from  impracticable  attempts,  and  far  better  circumstanced  at 
home  than  Louis  had  ever  been,  was  ripe  for  an  expedition  to  vin- 
dicate his  pretension  upon  Naples,  or  even  for  more  extensive  pro- 
jects. It  was  now  two  centuries  since  the  kings  of  France  had 
begun  to  aim,  by  intervals,  at  conquests  in  Italy.  The  long  Eng- 
lish wars  changed  all  views  of  the  court  of  France  to  self-defense. 
But  in  the  fifteenth  century  its  plans  of  aggrandizement  beyond  the 
Alps  began  to  revive.  Several  times,  as  I  have  mentioned,  the 
republic  of  Genoa  put  itself  under  the  dominion  of  France.  The 
dukes  of  Savoy,  possessing  most  part  of  Piedmont,  and  masters 
of  the  mountain  passes,  were,  by  birth,  intermarriage,  and  habitual 
policy,  completely  dedicated  to  the  French  interests.  Ludovico 
Sforza,  who  had  usurped  the  guardianship  of  his  nephew,  the  Duke 
of  Milan,  found,  as  that  young  man  advanced  to  maturity,  that  one 
crime  required  to  be  completed  by  another.  To  depose  and  murder 
his  ward  was,  however,  a  scheme  that  prudence,  though  not  con- 
science, bade  him  hesitate  to  execute.  He  had  rendered  Ferdinand 
of  Naples  and  Piero  de'  Medici,  Lorenzo's  heir,  his  decided  ene- 
mies. A  revolution  at  Milan  would  be  the  probable  result  of  his 
continuing  in  usurpation.  In  these  circumstances  Ludovico  Sforza 
excited  the  King  of  France  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  Naples. 
But  in  relieving  himself  from  an  immediate  danger,  Ludovico 
Sforza  overlooked  the  consideration  that  the  presumptive  heir  of 
the  King  of  France  claimed  by  an  ancient  title  that  principality  of 
Milan  which  he  was  compassing  by  usurpation  and  murder.  But 
neither  Milan  nor  Naples  was  free  from  other  claimants  than 
France,  nor  was  she  reserved  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  spoil  of 
Italy.  A  louder  and  a  louder  strain  of  warlike  dissonance  will  be 
heard  from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and  from  the  Mediterranean 
Gulf.  The  dark  and  wily  Ferdinand,  the  rash  and  lively  Maximil- 
ian, are  preparing  to  hasten  into  the  lists ;  the  schemes  of  ambition 
are  assuming  a  more  comprehensive  aspect,  and  the  controversy  of 
Neapolitan  succession  is  to  expand  into  the  long  rivalry  between  the 
houses  of  France  and  Austria.  In  1494  Charles  VIII.  of  France 
made  his  famous  invasion  of  Italy  and  this  date  may  serve  as  indi- 
cating the  end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  it  marks  the  beginning  of 
international  diplomacy  among  the  nations  of  Europe.  Before 
coming  to  this  we  must  once  more  retrace  our  steps,  to  follow  up 
the  history  of  Savoy,  and  to  describe  briefly  the  Renaissance  in  Italy 
which  fitly  marks  the  transition  from  medieval  to  modern  history. 


Chapter  XXXV 

THE    HOUSE    OF    SAVOY.     1000-1466 

LITTLE  has  yet  been  said  about  the  house  of  Savoy.  The 
princes  of  this  house  have,  however,  taken  so  distinguished 
~d  a  part  in  the  affairs  of  Italy  that  it  will  be  proper  now  to 
devote  a  chapter  in  order  to  explain  the  origin  and  rise  of  a  family 
to  which  Italy  owes  her  present  position  as  a  nation  once  more 
united  under  one  single  head. 

In  the  ninth  century  Savoy,  having  been  conquered  by  Rudolph, 
King  of  Burgundy,  became  a  part  of  that  kingdom,  to  which  was 
afterward  added  the  whole  valley  of  Aosta.  But  the  scepter  of  Bur- 
gundy, having  come  in  the  year  993  into  the  hands  of  another 
Rudolph,  surnamed  the  Idle  (as  being  imbecile  and  incapable  of 
governing),  and  he  having  died  without  issue,  the  kingdom  of 
Burgundy  became  split  up  into  many  divisions.  Thus,  after  the 
death  of  Rudolph,  the  dukes  who  had  governed  the  various  prov- 
inces in  the  name  of  the  king  constituted  themselves  independent 
sovereigns.  Among  these  was  one  Humbert,  called  Biancamano 
(the  white-handed),  who  was  a  duke  of  Switzerland,  near  the 
lake  of  Geneva,  and  at  the  same  time  had  possession  of  Savoy  and 
the  valley  of  Aosta.  He  accordingly  now  began  to  exercise  a  sov- 
ereign rule  over  the  states  which  he  had  already  governed  as  an 
hereditary,  though  subordinate,  prince,  and  this  was  the  primary 
root  of  the  royal  house  of  Savoy. 

On  the  death  of  Humbert,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 
Amadeus  I.,  and  he  dying  without  issue,  the  kingdom  came  into 
the  hands  of  his  brother  Otho.  Otho  married  Adelaide,  Princess 
of  Susa  and  Turin,  and  through  her  he  gradually  extended  his 
dominions  beyond  the  Alps  into  Italy.  Being  left  early  a  widow, 
she  brought  up  with  pious  care  her  sons  Peter  I.  and  Amadeus  II., 
both  of  whom  reigned  one  after  the  other,  and  both  died  before 
their  mother.  The  inheritance  then  passed  into  the  hands  of  Hum- 
bert II.,  surnamed  the  Strong,  son  of  Amadeus  II. 

Humbert  II.  had  designed  to  accompany  the  crusades  for  the 

272 


HOUSE     OF     SAVOY 

1103-1253 

conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  was  hindered  by  various  little  wars 
which  he  had  to  wage  in  order  to  retain  his  patrimony.  St.  Anselm, 
a  native  of  Aosta  and  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  him,  in  which,  after  praising  his  hereditary  devotion,  he 
begged  him  to  remember  that  the  churches  were  not  put  under  his 
hereditary  dominion,  but  under  his  hereditary  reverence  and  pro- 
tection. Humbert  the  Strong  died  in  1103,  and  the  crown  came 
into  the  hands  of  Amadeus  III.  while  yet  a  child  under  the  tutelage 
of  his  mother.  He  also,  when  grown  up,  followed  the  example  of 
many  other  princes,  and  joined  the  crusades,  moved  to  compassion 
by  the  lamentable  state  into  which  the  holy  places  had  fallen  under 
the  dominion  of  the  Turks.  As  regards  Amadeus,  after  many 
vain  efforts  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  country,  but  having 
arrived  at  the  Island  of  Cyprus,  he  was  overtaken  by  sickness,  and 
died  at  Nicosia,  the  capital  of  that  island. 

The  reign  of  his  successor,  Humbert  III.  (called  the  Saint), 
was  rendered  glorious  by  the  Christian  virtues  which  he  practiced 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  life.  He  lived  in  the  times  of  Fred- 
erick Barbarossa  (1146-1188),  and  this  emperor  made  havoc  of 
the  states  belonging  to  him. 

But  Humbert  succeeded  in  regaining  the  cities  and  lands  which 
the  emperor  had  taken  from  him.  This  prince  is  always  designated 
in  history  by  the  title  of  Humbert  the  Saint,  and  in  1838  he  was 
solemnly  canonized  by  the  Pope. 

While  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelline  factions  were  carrying  on 
sanguinary  wars  against  each  other,  the  power  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy 
went  on  consolidating,  and  Thomas  I.  (1 188-1233)  embellished 
and  fortified  the  city  of  Chambery,  in  order  to  give  to  his  states  a 
capital  worthy  of  a  prince,  and  made  several  territorial  acquisitions. 
Apparently  also  he  was  the  initiator  of  that  policy  of  balancing 
between  the  great  powers  which  geography  rendered  necessary 
and  thanks  to  which  the  house  of  Savoy  slowly  grew  stronger. 

Amadeus  IV.  succeeded  him  (1233-1253),  and  after  a  reign 
of  twenty  years  full  of  adventure,  died,  leaving  a  son  only  eight 
years  of  age,  named  Boniface.  At  that  time  Asti  was  an  inde- 
pendent city,  and  Turin  was  also  governed  in  the  same  manner, 
although  subject  to  the  dukes  of  Savoy.  A  war  had  broken  out 
between  these  two  cities ;  the  army  of  Asti  marched  in  full  force 
upon  Moncalieri,  where  they  discomfited  the  allies  of  Boniface, 
and  advanced  to  Turin,  in  which  city  they  numbered  many  partisans. 


274  ITALY 

1253-1285 

His  uncle  went  out  to  oppose  them,  but  was  beaten,  and  had  to  take 
refuge  in  the  city,  where  the  party  favorable  to  Asti  took  him  and 
put  him  into  prison.  When  the  various  sovereigns  of  Europe,  and 
especially  Pope  Alexander  IV.,  heard  of  this  treatment,  they 
endeavored  to  set  him  at  liberty ;  but  soon  after  he  died,  in  the  year 
1259.  The  tutelage  of  Boniface  then  devolved  on  his  two  uncles 
until  his  death,  which  happened  in  the  year  1263.  In  1233  the 
Emperor  Frederick  II.  erected  Chablais  and  Aosta  into  a  duchy  and 
thereafter  the  counts  of  Savoy  became  dukes.  The  only  suzerain 
of  Savoy  was  the  emperor,  and  this  in  itself  tended  to  give  the 
Savoyard  princes  a  certain  distinction. 

The  dukedom  next  came  into  the  hands  of  his  uncle  Peter, 
named  the  Little  Charlemagne,  from  his  valor  in  arms,  and  his 
prudence  in  the  government  of  the  state.  He  made  conquests 
chiefly  in  Savoy,  Switzerland,  and  Provence.  The  greater  part  of 
the  cities  on  the  Italian  side  of  the  Alps  were  now  held  by  his 
cousins,  through  an  hereditary  division  of  rights,  while  some  of 
them  were  invaded  by  the  forces  of  Asti,  and  others  were  in  full 
rebellion;  but  notwithstanding  all  this,  Peter  kept  hold  of  many 
places  in  Italy,  especially  the  castles  of  Rivoli,  Avigliana,  and 
Susa. 

Peter's  death  took  place  in  the  year  1268,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Philip  L,  who  suffered  a  miserable  life  of  disease,  aggra- 
vated by  the  cares  of  government.  Dying  at  length  without  issue, 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Amadeus  V.,  surnamed  "  The 
Great,"  who  already  possessed  a  considerable  territory  in  Pied- 
mont (1285-1323.)  He  had  to  carry  on  war  against  the  Genevese 
and  also  against  the  state  of  Dauphigny,  but  the  most  important  of 
his  wars  was  that  which  he  was  engaged  in  against  William,  Mar- 
quis of  Montferrat.  The  counts  of  Savoy  had  been  much  occu- 
pied in  their  own  proper  dominions  on  the  west  of  the  Alps,  and 
owing  to  the  great  subdivisions  of  hereditary  rights,  the  cousins 
possessed  but  little  land  and  little  power  in  Italy.  W'illiam  of 
Casale,  capital  of  Montferrat,  had  in  the  meantime  extended  his 
conquests  over  Vercelli,  Tortona,  Alessandria,  Alba,  and  Ivrea, 
even  to  the  very  neighborhood  of  Turin  itself.  But  Genoa,  Asti, 
Chieri,  and  Milan  stood  resolutely  opposed  to  him,  and  invited 
Count *  Amadeus  to  join  their  alliance.    On  this  invitation  he  came 

1  Although  having  the  legal  title  of  duke,  after  1233,  yet  as  Savoy  was  still 
a  county,  the  heads  of  the  house  of  Savoy  continued  for  some  time  to  be  called 
"  count." 


HOUSE     OF     SAVOY  275 

1285-1343 

over  into  Piedmont,  and  having  conquered  William,  recovered 
many  of  the  lands  which  had  been  lost,  and  added  others  to  his 
principality. 

But  now,  being  greatly  occupied  with  the  affairs  of  Savoy  and 
Switzerland,  and  wishing  to  make  an  end  of  the  protests  of  his 
nephew  Philip,  a  treaty  was  signed  between  them  to  the  following 
effect:  Philip  was  to  give  up  all  pretensions  in  respect  of  Savoy 
and  the  dukedom  of  Aosta,  while  Amadeus  was  to  resign  Piedmont 
into  his  hands  as  a  feudal  possession,  with  exception  of  the  valley 
of  Susa.  Philip  accordingly  transferred  his  court  to  Pinerolo,  and 
soon  after  married  Isabella,  who  brought  him  as  a  dowry  the  prin- 
cipality of  Achaia  in  Greece.  From  her  descended  the  whole 
branch  of  the  princes  of  Achaia,  cousins  of  the  counts  of  Savoy, 
and  holding  feudal  tenure  from  the  states  of  Piedmont.  Amadeus, 
notwithstanding  the  terms  of  this  treaty,  did  not  renounce  the 
idea  of  making  new  conquests  in  Piedmont,  and  actually  obtained 
Ivrea  and  the  territory  of  Canova  as  a  gift  from  the  Emperor 
Henry  III.     He  died  in  the  year  1323. 

His  eldest  son  Edward  then  assumed  the  reins  of  government, 
and  signalized  himself  in  many  wars  against  the  enemies  of  Savoy, 
and  also  in  favor  of  the  King  of  France,  displaying  a  valor  that 
shrank  from  no  trial,  but  which  often  proved  too  rash  and  impetu- 
ous. Generous  to  excess,  he  was  often  reduced  to  great  straits, 
and  on  this  account  was  surnamed  "  The  Liberal."  He  died  in 
1329  without  male  issue,  so  that  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Hsemon,  who  made  great  efforts  to  cancel  the  debts  which  Edward 
had  left  behind  him.  Hsemon  died  in  1343,  leaving  the  state  to  his 
eldest  son  Amadeus,  surnamed  Count  Verde. 

Amadeus  VI.,  when  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  made  his  ap- 
pearance at  a  solemn  tournament  in  Chambery  to  give  proof  of  his 
prowess  and  dexterity.  He  was  clothed  all  in  green,  a  color  which 
from  that  time  he  uniformly  adopted,  so  that  the  people  gave  him 
the  sobriquet  of  Count  Verde,  or  the  green  knight.  Of  him  Bel- 
giojoso  says :  "  He  was  one  of  those  men  who  are  of  suffi- 
cient ability  to  found  the  grandeur  and  the  power  of  a  sovereign 
family  and  of  the  territory  confided  to  them."  In  Piedmont  he 
kept  up  the  war  against  the  Count  of  Montferrat  and  the  Prince 
of  Achaia,  and  recovered  many  of  the  lands  which  they  had  pre- 
viously taken.  He  instituted  the  order  of  the  Collar  of  Savoy, 
now  known  by  the  name  of  St.  Annunziata,  which  consisted  of 


276  ITALY 

1343-1383 

fifteen  knights,  in  honor  of  the  fifteen  mysteries  of  the  Rosary. 
The  most  celebrated  of  his  undertakings  was  an  expedition  to  the 
East.  John  Pateologus,  who  was  then  emperor  in  Constantinople, 
was  greatly  harassed  by  the  Turks,  and  obliged  to  form  a  league 
against  them.  Despairing  of  any  other  aid,  he  sent  ambassadors 
to  Pope  Urban  V.,  supplicating  his  assistance,  and  holding  out  to 
him  the  prospect  of  restoring  unity  between  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  The  Pope,  fearing  the  dangers  which 
hung  over  the  Christian  faith  by  reason  of  the  continual  progress 
of  the  Turks,  used  every  effort  to  induce  the  King  of  France,  the 
King  of  Cyprus,  the  German  emperor,  and  Amadeus  V.,  as  well 
as  some  other  potentates,  to  unite  their  arms  in  driving  back  the 
Turks,  already  within  a  short  distance  of  Constantinople.  But 
he  met  with  no  success.  One  wanted  men,  another  money,  and 
others  courage.  Amadeus  VI.  was  the  only  one  who  came  to 
the  help  of  the  Greek  Empire.  For  this  purpose,  he  got  together 
ships,  borrowed  money,  assembled  troops,  and  weighed  anchor 
from  Venice  with  his  whole  army,  in  the  year  1366.  But  the  Turks 
already  possessed  the  city  of  Gallipoli,  which  commands  the  Dar- 
danelles. Amadeus,  accordingly,  prepared  to  attack  it,  and  making 
a  brave  assault  upon  the  walls,  took  it  by  force.  His  army  was 
thus  enabled  to  enter  the  straits  and  reach  Constantinople,  where 
he  was  at  once  hailed  as  a  deliverer.  To  preserve  the  memory  of 
this  honorable  expedition,  a  statue  of  the  count  was  erected  in 
bronze  at  Turin,  in  the  year  1853,  in  front  of  the  municipal  palace, 
where  he  is  represented  raising  his  sword  on  high  against  the  Bul- 
garians, and  trampling  those  already  fallen  under  his  feet. 

On  his  arrival  in  Italy  he  had  to  draw  the  sword  against  the 
Visconti  of  Milan.  The  greater  part  of  these  Visconti  had  to 
employ  force  and  exercise  oppression  to  maintain  their  power,  and 
Galeazzo  Visconti  collected  together  a  large  number  of  soldiers 
with  the  design  of  getting  Montferrat  under  his  dominion,  it  being 
a  territory  remarkable  for  its  fertility  and  for  the  exquisite  quality 
of  its  wine.  Amadeus  did  not  delay  marching  against  him,  and 
after  several  sanguinary  encounters  put  the  Milanese  to  flight, 
remaining  thus  the  peaceful  possessor  of  his  states. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1383,  this  great  warrior,  having  gone 
with  two  thousand  soldiers  to  the  assistance  of  Louis,  and  having 
arrived  in  the  country  of  the  Abruzzi,  was  seized  with  a  severe 
malady,  which  in  a  few  days  ended  his  life.    He  was  a  good  prince, 


HOUSE     OF     SAVOY  277 

1383-1449 

and  his  death  was  lamented  by  all.  Already  the  house  of  Savoy 
had  given  evidence  of  its  stability  and  of  its  powers  of  territorial 
expansion.  Yet,  situated  as  it  was  on  the  frontier  with  part  of  its 
lands  outside  Italy,  it  maintained  an  attitude  of  aloofness  from 
many  affairs  in  Italy. 

The  last  Count  of  Savoy  was  Amadeus  VII.,  called  Count 
Rosso  (or  the  red  count),  a  man  endowed  by  nature  with  the  high- 
est qualities,  and  a  worthy  descendant  of  Count  Verde,  his  father. 
He  gave  great  assistance  to  the  King  of  France  against  the  English 
and  Dutch.  The  war  between  Louis  of  Anjou  and  Charles  of  Du- 
razzo,  then  master  of  the  maritime  country  of  Nice,  still  continued 
during  his  reign.  But  the  inhabitants  of  Nice,  tired  of  these  inter- 
minable discords,  decided  to  shake  off  the  yoke  and  place  their 
country  henceforth  under  the  paternal  government  of  the  counts 
of  Savoy. 

Amadeus  VIII.  in  1416  received  the  title  of  Duke  of  Savoy  and 
Chablais,  from  the  emperor,  as  well  as  those  of  Marquis  of  Aosta 
and  Italy  and  Count  of  Piedmont  and  of  the  territory  of  Geneva. 
This  wise  monarch,  after  having  greatly  enlarged  his  states,  now 
bent  his  whole  mind  to  the  subject  of  legislation,  and  compiled 
a  codex,  known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Statuta  Siibandice,"  or  Consti- 
tutions of  Savoy.  This  codex  is  looked  upon  as  a  masterpiece,  and 
gained  for  its  author  the  surname  of  Solomon.  But  worldly  pros- 
perity alone  cannot  satisfy  the  mind.  Amadeus,  fortunate  in  every 
enterprise,  and  conqueror  over  every  enemy,  wished  also  to  conquer 
himself.  In  his  desire  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  he  renounced 
the  throne  in  favor  of  his  son  Louis,  retired  to  the  convent  of  Ri- 
paglia,  near  Geneva,  and,  abandoning  every  earthly  glory,  clothed 
himself  as  a  hermit  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  days  in  solitary  devotion. 

A  curious  circumstance,  however,  arose  to  disturb  the  quiet 
of  his  life.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  at  that  time  harassed 
by  the  quarrel  between  the  Council  of  Basle  and  Pope  Eugenius  IV., 
with  the  result  that  the  council  deposed  Eugenius  and  elected  Duke 
Amadeus  as  Pope.  Thus,  after  five  years  of  a  solitary  life,  he 
was  induced  by  the  desire  of  quieting  the  discords  which  agitated 
the  church  to  accept  the  proffered  charge,  and  was  saluted  as  Pope 
under  the  name  of  Felix  V.  In  the  meantime  Eugenius  IV.  died, 
and  Nicolas  V.  being  elected  his  successor,  Felix  spontaneously 
resigned,  and  so  put  an  end  to  a  state  of  things  which  caused  great 
harm  and  great  affliction  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.     Having 


278  ITALY 

1449-1466 

called  together  another  council  of  prelates,  he  laid  down  the  insignia 
of  office,  renounced  the  pontificate,  keeping  only  the  title  of  cardinal 
and  apostolic  legate,  and  returned  to  his  loved  solitude  of  Ripaglia. 
Thus  he  passed  another  year  and  a  half,  always  devoted  to  spiritual 
duties,  and  died  peaceably  in  the  year  145 1. 

The  reign  of  his  son  Louis  was  less  glorious  than  that  of  his 
father.  He  held  the  throne  for  fifteen  years,  and  suffered  much, 
both  from  his  subjects  and  from  his  son  Louis.  Nevertheless,  his 
name  is  still  celebrated  in  history,  as  it  was  during  his  reign  that 
the  dukes  of  Savoy  received  the  title  of  King  of  Cyprus,  a  title  which 
they  retained  down  to  the  nineteenth  century. 


Chapter    XXXVI 

THE    ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

IN  one  short  chapter,  which  is  all  that  can  be  devoted  to  the 
subject,  it  is  futile  to  try  to  present  even  a  resume  of  so  vast 
a  movement  as  the  Renaissance ; *  what  will  be  attempted,  there- 
fore, will  be  to  touch  upon  certain  aspects  of  the  period,  quoting 
freely  from  some  of  the  foremost  writers,  hoping-  that  the  reader 
will  read  further  for  himself,  in  the  rich  and  voluminous  literature 
of  the  subject.2 

In  the  first  place,  what  was  the  Renaissance? 

Speaking  broadly,  we  may  begin  by  saying  that  it  was  the 
movement  of  transition  by  which  the  medieval  world  grew  into 
the  modern  world.  Man  in  1300  was  medieval;  in  1500  he  was 
modern.  In  this  sense,  the  Renaissance  embraces  all  those  multi- 
form activities  of  the  human  mind  which  wrought  so  vast  a  change. 
Taken  in  a  more  concrete  sense,  the  Renaissance  means  for  one 
man  the  revival  of  learning,  for  another  the  revival  of  art,  for  a 
third  the  revival  of  science,  for  still  another  the  great  geographical 
discoveries — in  short,  the  definition  depends  on  the  man's  particular 
field.  The  famous  phrase  of  Michelet 3  describes  it  as  "  the  dis- 
covery of  the  world  and  of  man."  To  comprehend  this  we  must 
first  know  something  about  medieval  man  and  how  greatly  he 
differed  from  the  modern — more  so  than  the  modern  man  differs 
from  the  classical  man.  The  Middle  Ages  were  neither  critical  nor 
scientific,  and  perhaps  the  chief  results  of  the  work  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries  was  the  renaissance  of  criticism  and  scientific 
methods,  with  the  consequent  development  of  individualism  and 
revolt  against  authority.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  moreover,  it  was 
thought  wrong  to  enjoy  art  or  nature  in  themselves.     Petrarch, 

1  See    "  The    Renaissance "    in   the    "  Cambridge    Modern    History "    series, 
planned  by  Lord  Acton,  vol.  i.,  London,  1902. 

2  See,   in    especial,    Symonds's    "  Short    History    of    the    Renaissance "    and 
Schaff's  "The  Renaissance." 

3  Michelet,  "  Histoire  de  France!'  vol.  vii. 

279 


280  ITALY 

really  the  first  man  of  the  new  life,  was  also  the  first,  since  classic 
days,  to  climb  a  hill  in  order  to  enjoy  the  view!  After  him  the 
study  of  nature  and  of  mankind  was  taken  up  with  avidity,  and 
from  this  pursuit  we  have  a  special  field  of  the  Renaissance  called 
Humanism. 

"  The  reason  why  Italy  took  the  lead  in  the  Renaissance  was 
that  Italy  possessed  a  language,  a  favorable  climate,  political  free- 
dom, and  commercial  prosperity  at  a  time  when  other  nations  were 
still  semi-barbarous."  4  It  was  the  creation  of  governments  and  the 
accumulation  of  wealth,  with  the  concomitant  of  leisure,  that  gave 
the  opportunity  for  the  Renaissance.  It  was  in  Italy  that  commerce 
first  began  on  a  large  scale  after  the  "  Dark  Ages,"  and  the  growth 
of  rich  city  states  likewise.  Such  states,  with  "  their  intense  stimulus 
to  individual  ambition,  combined  to  emancipate  the  individual  and  to 
foster  in  him  a  belief  in  his  own  powers,  and  an  independence  of 
judgment  and  action  necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  the  revival  of 
learning."  5  When,  as  was  soon  the  case,  corruption  reigned  nearly 
supreme  in  Italy,  the  cause  was  not  far  to  seek :  "  The  fundamental 
vice  of  this  character,  i.  e.,  the  Italian  in  the  Renaissance,  was  at  the 
same  time  a  condition  of  its  greatness — namely,  excessive  indi- 
vidualism." 6 

Turning  now  to  glance  at  some  of  the  greatest  names  in  our 
period,  we  come  first  of  all  to  Dante.7  "  Dante,  Petrarca,  and  Boc- 
caccio represent  the  birth  and  glory  of  Italian  literature,  and  are 
the  fathers  of  the  revival  of  letters.  .  .  .  Dante,  the  poet, 
statesman,  philosopher,  and  theologian,  the  first  of  Italian  classics 
and  the  greatest  of  medieval  poets,  has  given  us  in  his  '  Divine  Com- 
edy/ conceived  in  1300  ...  a  poetic  view  of  the  moral  uni- 
verse under  the  aspect  of  eternity.  .  .  .  It  is  a  mirror  of  medi- 
eval Christianity,  and  at  the  same  time  a  work  of  universal  signifi- 
cance and  perennial  interest.  It  connects  the  Middle  Ages  with  the 
modern  world."  8  Dante's  ideas  were  largely  medieval,  and  in  fact 
his  real  contribution  to  the  Renaissance  was  his  use  of  the  vernacu- 
lar; he  may  be  said  to  have  created  a  literary  Italian  language, 
forming  it  from  the  elements  common  to  the  various  peninsular 

4  Symonds,  "  Age  of  Despots,"  p.  4. 

5  Adams,  "  Mediaeval  Civilization,"  p.  373. 

6Burckhardt,  "Die  Kultur  der  Renaissance  in  Italien,"  vol.  ii.  p.  246. 

7  See    "Dante    and    His    Time,"    by    K.    Federn,    London,    1902;    and    also 
"  Menschen  u.  Kutist  der  ital.  Renaissance,"  R.  Saitchick,  Berlin,  1903. 

8  Schaff,  "  The  Renaissance,"  p.  13. 


ITALIAN     RENAISSANCE  281 

dialects.  "  Dante  .  .  .  was  and  remained  the  man  who  first 
thrust  antiquity  into  the  foreground  of  national  culture.  In  the 
'  Divine  Comedy '  he  treats  the  ancient  and  Christian  worlds,  not 
indeed  as  of  equal  authority,  but  as  parallel  to  one  another."  9 

With  Petrarch,  that  is,  before  his  death  in  1374,  we  may  say 
that  the  Renaissance,  at  least  in  so  far  as  we  mean  the  revival  of 
learning-,  was  in  full  swing.  "  Petrarch,  who  lives  in  the  memory 
of  most  people  nowadays  chiefly  as  a  great  Italian  poet,  owed  his 
fame  among  his  contemporaries  rather  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a 
kind  of  living  representative  of  antiquity "  is  the  comment  of 
Burckhardt,  the  keen  German  critic.  He  had  a  passion  for  classi- 
cal life  and  ardently  pursued  the  task  of  collecting  MSS.  He  loved 
and  admired  nature  and  was  critical  and  independent  in  his  judg- 
ments; and  we  find  him  consciously  attacking  the  medieval  system 
in  many  of  its  branches,  ridiculing  the  universities,  the  astrologers, 
and  the  schoolmen. 

Boccaccio,  a  contemporary  and  admirer  of  Petrarch,  was  only 
less  famous  than  his  master.  He  is  now  known  principally  as  the 
author  of  the  "  Decameron?'  which  he  would  greatly  have  liked 
to  expurgate  before  he  died.  "  Dante  is  admired,  Petrarch  is 
praised,  Boccaccio  is  read." 

"  Nothing  is  more  obvious  to  the  student  who  has  mastered 
the  first  difficulties  caused  by  the  intricacies  of  Italian  history  than 
the  fact  that  all  the  mental  force  of  the  nation  was  generated  in 
Tuscany,  and  radiated  thence  as  from  a  center  of  vital  heat  and 
life  over  the  rest  of  the  peninsula.  This  is  true  of  the  revival  of 
learning  no  less  than  of  the  fine  arts  and  of  the  origin  of  science. 
From  the  republics  of  Tuscany,  and  from  Florence  10  in  particular, 
proceeded  the  impulse  and  the  energy  that  led  to  fruitful  results  in 
all  these  departments."  8  In  Florence  there  was  not  only  a  large 
class  of  keen-minded  and  well-to-do  burghers,  but  also  an  active 
political  life.  Moreover,  the  party  leaders  devoted  themselves  to 
the  encouragement  of  the  Renaissance,  even  before  the  supremacy 
of  the  Medici  family.  The  Medici  are  perhaps  more  celebrated 
from  their  connection  with  this  aspect  of  affairs  than  from  their 
political  prominence. 

Cosmo  de'  Medici  (1389-1464),  "the  father  of  his  country," 

9  Burckhardt,  vol.  ii.  p.  285. 

10  See  K.  Brandi,  "Die  Renaissance  in  Floretiz  u.  Rom,"  Leipsic,  1900. 

11  Symonds,  "  Short  History  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy,"  p.  162. 


282  ITALY 

and  in  all  but  name  the  ruler  of  Florence,  was  a  man  of  vast  wealth 
with  extensive  commercial  relations  throughout  the  then  trade 
world,  and  he  utilized  his  position  to  further  learning  and  science 
by  acquiring  the  services  of  Greek  scholars  and  foreign  MSS.  He 
was  an  eager  buyer  of  books,  and  founded  a  famous  library  in  Flor- 
ence. He  showered  attentions  and  pensions  on  savants,  and  a 
coterie  of  scholars  grew  up  in  Florence,  later  much  increased  by  his 
grandson,  Lorenzo  il  Magnifico  (Aretino,  Poggio,  Gemisthus  Ple- 
tho  among  others).  "  He  was,"  says  Schaff,  "  both  the  Rothschild 
and  the  Maecenas  of  his  age.  .  .  .  Cosmo  encouraged  scholars 
by  gifts  of  money  and  the  purchase  of  MSS.  without  the  air  of  con- 
descension which  spoils  the  gift,  but  with  the  feeling  of  respect  and 
gratitude  for  superior  merit."  His  grandson,  the  famous  Lo- 
renzo,12 however,  is  more  celebrated  as  a  patron  of  the  Renaissance 
(1449-1492).  "  He  possessed  one  of  those  natures  fitted  to  com- 
prehend all  knowledge  and  to  sympathize  with  the  most  diverse 
forms  of  life.  While  he  never  for  a  moment  relaxed  his  grasp  on 
politics,  among  philosophers  he  passed  for  a  sage,  among  men  of 
letters  for  an  original  and  graceful  poet,  among  scholars  for  a  Gre- 
cian sensitive  to  every  nicety  of  Attic  idiom,  among  artists  for  an 
amateur  gifted  with  refined  discernment  and  consummate  taste."  13 
The  foremost  men  at  his  court  were  Ficino,  a  religious  philosopher 
and  erudite  Greek  scholar;  and  Giovanni  Pico  della  Mirandola, 
who  seemed  to  possess  all  the  talents  and  graces  of  mind  and  body, 
an  eminent  and  dignified  scholar  whose  knowledge  was  pro- 
digious. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Lorenzo  we  come  to  the  curious 
and  interesting  episode  which  is  connected  with  the  rule  of  the 
monk,  Girolamo  Savonarola.14  He  governed  the  city  not  as  had 
the  Medici,  by  wealth,  corruption,  and  influence,  but  by  the  fiery 
passion  of  his  eloquence.  He  called  upon  the  pleasure-loving  Flor- 
entines to  reform  their  immoral  lives,  and  so  great  was  his  power 
that  for  a  time  he  actually  maintained  a  sort  of  government. 
Though  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  justified  in  preaching  against 
Pope  Alexander  VI.,  they  soon  came  into  conflict.  By  the  pontiff 
he  was  ordered  to  cease  preaching  till  the  sedition  excited  by  his 

12  See  E.  Armstrong,   "Lorenzo  de'  Medici,"  New  York,   1002.     ("Heroes 
of  the  Nations.") 

13  Symonds,  "  Short  History  of  the  Renaissance,"  p.  174. 

14  See  A.  Gobineau,  "La  Renaissance-Savonarola,  C.  Borgia,  Jules  II.,  Leon 
X.,  et  M.  Ange,"  Paris,  1877. 


ITALIAN     RENAISSANCE  283 

eloquence  had  quieted  down.  This  the  monk  obstinately  refused  to 
do.  He  was  then  tried  and  found  guilty  of  having  published  false 
prophecies,  of  being  a  heretic  and  an  instigator  of  sedition.  He 
was  next  given  over  to  the  secular  authority,  condemned  to  death 
and  executed  in  May,  1498. 

The  example  of  the  Medici  was  followed  by  nearly  all  the  other 
despots  of  the  peninsula,  including  the  Popes,  foremost  among  them 
being  Ferdinand  I.  of  the  two  Sicilies,  and  the  D'Este  family  of 
Ferrara,  and  even  the  corrupt  tyrants  such  as  the  Malatesta  of 
Rimini. 

Accompanying  the  growth  of  Humanism,  but  reaching  its 
climax  later,  came  the  Renaissance  of  art,15  at  first  classical  in  form 
and  religious  in  spirit,  and  later  wholly  modern  and  largely  pagan. 
"  Not  only  was  each  department  of  the  fine  arts  practiced  with 
singular  success,  not  only  was  the  national  genius  to  a  very  large 
extent  absorbed  by  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture,  but  the 
aesthetic  impulse  was  more  subtly  and  widely  diffused  than  this 
alone  would  imply."  16  Moreover,  not  only  did  aesthetic  feeling 
express  itself  in  creation;  classical  works  of  art  were  eagerly 
searched  out  and  when  found  assigned  places  of  honor  in  museums. 
About  1500,  for  example,  the  Laocoon,  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  and 
the  torso  of  Hercules  were  brought  to  light.  "  As  in  ancient  Greece, 
so  also  in  Renaissance  Italy,  the  fine  arts  assumed  the  first  place 
in  the  intellectual  culture  of  the  nation.  .  .  .  Painting  was  the 
art  of  arts  for  Italy.  .  .  .  Whatever  painting  touched  became 
by  that  touch  human.  .  .  .  For  the  painters  of  the  full  Renais- 
sance, Roman  martyrs  and  Olympian  deities  were  alike  burghers  of 
one  spiritual  city,  the  city  of  the  beautiful  and  human.  .  .  . 
Having  coordinated  the  Christian  and  pagan  traditions  in  its  work 
of  beauty,  painting  could  advance  no  farther."  1T  From  Cimabue 
to  Giotto  is  like  the  transition  from  Dante  to  Petrarch. 

Painting  started  in  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  cities  of  Siena 
and  Florence,  with  Cimabue  and  Duccio.  Following  them  were 
Giotto,  Andrea  Orcagna,  and  Fra  Angelico ;  from  these  men  the 
transition  to  Titian,  Veronese,  and  Raphael  is  stupendous  indeed, 
not  alone  in  form,  method,  and  technique,  but  in  the  motive  ideas. 

15  See  "  Hist,  de  la  Renaissance  artistique  en  Italic"  by  C.  Blanc,  Paris 
1889,  ii. 

1G  Symonds,  "  Short  History  of  Renaissance,"  p.  214;  see  chap.  xii.  for  a  good 
summary  of  this  subject. 

17  Symonds,  "The  Fine  Arts,"  pp.  22  and  25. 


284  ITALY 

Michael  Angelo,  "  in  whom  the  Renaissance  culminated,"  was 
painter,  sculptor,  architect,  and  master  in  all.  He  "  made  art  the 
vehicle  of  lofty  and  soul-shaking  thought."  The  sixteenth  century 
painters  will  be  referred  to  again  later. 

Architecture  is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  expressive  of 
arts  and  one  which  early  emerges  "  from  barbarism  in  the  service  of 
religion  and  of  civic  life.  In  no  way  is  the  characteristic  diversity 
of  Italian  communities  so  noticeable  as  in  their  buildings."  Its 
early  start  is  seen  in  the  cathedral  at  Pisa,  begun  in  1063.  The 
strength  of  classical  influence  is  shown  by  the  prevalence  of  Ro- 
manesque forms  and  in  the  slight  hold  of  Gothic.  Also  there  are 
traces  of  Oriental  influence,  with  the  notable  illustration  of  St. 
Mark's.  Probably  the  finest  example  of  early  Renaissance  archi- 
tecture is  the  Duomo  at  Florence,  planned  by  Brunelleschi.  St. 
Peter's  is  a  later  development,  for,  though  begun  by  Bramante,  it 
was  long  in  being  completed.  Like  painting,  architecture  finally 
lost  most  of  its  original  grandeur,  and  we  have  the  hideous  baroque 
forms. 

Niccolo  Pisano  may  be  called  the  father  of  Italian  sculpture. 
The  classic  influence  was  even  stronger  than  in  painting,  and  the 
tendency  to  servile  imitation  was  very  powerful.  After  Pisano, 
other  famous  sculptors  are  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  whose  genius  pro- 
duced the  doors  of  the  Baptistery  at  Florence,  said  by  Michael  An- 
gelo to  be  worthy  to  serve  as  doors  to  Paradise ;  Donatello,  sculptor 
of  "  David,"  and  Benvenuto  Cellini. 

The  object  of  the  Popes,  after  the  Council  of  Constance,  had 
failed  in  its  attempt  to  impose  a  constitution  on  the  papal  monarchy, 
was  to  build  up  a  state  in  Central  Italy.  With  the  end  of  the  Middle 
Ages  the  Pope  had  lost  his  position  as  temporal  head  of  Western 
Europe,  attained  by  Innocent  III.,  and  became  primarily  a  secular 
Italian  prince,  like  many  others,  "  with  certain  sacerdotal  addi- 
tions." "  The  Pope  was  a  king  as  well  as  a  bishop.  .  .  .  With 
the  rise  of  international  politics  and  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
conflict  of  state  with  state  for  European  supremacy  .  .  . 
Italy  was  the  first  battleground  of  nations.  It  was  the  practically 
unoccupied  piece  of  ground  lying  first  at  hand  in  which  each  hoped 
to  gain  some  great  advantage  over  the  others.  In  this  struggle  of 
armies  and  diplomacy  the  Popes  had  an  immediate  and  vital  inter- 
est. They  must  enter  into  it  on  the  same  footing  and  with  the 
same  weapons  as  Austria  and  Spain,  and  this  necessity  of  constantly 


ITALIAN     RENAISSANCE  285 

striving  to  preserve  the  independence  of  their  little  kingdom  in 
the  turmoil  of  European  politics,  or  to  recover  it  when  lost,  has 
been  a  controlling  element  in  the  papal  policy  down  to  the  reign  of 
Leo  XIII.  (and  still  is  to-day),  a  perpetually  harassing  and  dis- 
abling necessity,  judged  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  religious 
position."  18  At  the  outset  this  worldly  tendency  was  carried  to 
great  excess,  and  we  have  the  singular  spectacle  of  Alexander 
VI.  (Borgia)  in  the  Vatican,  surrounded  by  his  publicly  acknowl- 
edged children — Cesare,  Lucrezia,  etc.19  It  was  such  a  spectacle 
and  more  directly  the  profound  abuses  which  it  implied,  and  the 
consequent  impossibility  of  effecting,  as  was  believed,  any  im- 
provement within  the  old  church,  that  led  in  the  sixteenth  century 
to  the  Protestant  revolution  on  the  Continent  and  to  the  changes 
in,  but  not  revolution  of,  the  Anglican  Church.  A  large  part  of 
Europe  was  thereby  severed  from  the  Catholic  communion,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Roman  Church  had  de- 
fined its  dogmas  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  English  Church 
had  freed  itself  from  the  papal  authority  and  taken  its  place  as  an 
independent  branch  of  the  Christian  Church. 

"  We  find  in  the  Popes  of  the  period  what  has  been  already 
noticed  in  the  despots;  learning,  the  patronage  of  the  arts,  the 
passion  for  magnificence,  and  the  refinements  of  polite  culture, 
alternating  and  not  infrequently  combined  with  barbarous  ferocity 
of  temper,  and  with  savage  and  coarse  tastes."  20  Yet  although  it 
might  seem  that  the  Italians  would  have  been  the  first  to  revolt 
as  being  the  best  informed  of  these  matters,  this  was  not  the  case, 
for  there  was  but  one  Borgia,  and  though  Protestantism  gained 
some  few  adherents  for  a  time,  it  never  gained  the  masses,  and 
while  skepticism  abounded  in  Italy,  there  was  no  general  move- 
ment, and  the  end  of  the  century  saw  an  increased  devotion  to  the 
Pope. 

As  we  have  said,  the  Renaissance  was  the  period  when  the 
medieval  world  was  transformed  into  the  modern  one.  During 
this  time  we  have  the  growth  and  consolidation  of  national  govern- 
ments, ruling  over  compact  peoples,  of  national  languages  and  liter- 
atures ;  we  have  also  many  inventions  and  discoveries ;  the  printing 

18  Adams,  "  Mediaeval  Civilization,"  pp.  414-415. 

19  See  "Die  Borgia  u.  ihre  Zeit,"  by  V.  von  Schubert-Soldern,  Dresden, 
1902,  and  "  Les  Borgias,  Hist,  du  Pape  Alexandre  VI.,  de  Cesar,  et  de  Lucrcce 
Borgia,"  by  L'Abbe  Clement,  Paris,  1882. 

20  Symonds,  "  Short  History  of  Renaissance,"  p.  56. 


286  ITALY 

press  and  gunpowder;  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
and  of  America,  etc.  In  so  far  as  any  exact  date  has  value  in 
marking  the  transition  from  one  age  to  another,  we  may  say  that 
modern  times  began  with  the  famous  expedition  of  Charles  VIII. 
of  France  in  1494,  when,  as  De  Commines  has  it,  he  conquered 
Italy  with  a  "  piece  of  chalk,"  and  inaugurated  thereby  the  Italian 
wars  and  modern  diplomacy. 


PART  III 
MODERN  ITALY.     1494-1906 


Chapter   XXXVII 

LUDOVICO  IL  MORO  AND  THE  FRENCH   IN  ITALY 

1494-1515 

FRANCESCO  SFORZA  had  a  long  and  glorious  reign,  dur- 
ing which  he  made  himself  both  feared  and  honored  by  his 
subjects.  At  his  death  he  left  the  ducal  crown  to  his  son 
Galeazzo  Maria,  who,  after  a  dishonorable  reign  of  ten  years,  was 
killed  by  three  conspirators  in  1476.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Gian  Galeazzo  Maria,  who  was  eight  years  of  age.  An  uncle  of  the 
young  prince  (called  Ludovico  il  Moro,  in  consequence  of  his  dark 
skin)  undertook  to  govern  the  Milanese  until  his  nephew  should  be 
of  an  age  to  assume  the  reins.  But  Ludovico  was  ambitious  and 
cruel.  Jealous  of  seeing  the  title  of  duke  borne  by  an  infant,  he 
formed  the  design  of  seizing  the  throne  and  ascending  it  himself; 
but  knowing  that  the  Milanese  loved  the  prince  in  consequence  of 
his  youth  and  innocence,  and  would  not  tolerate  such  an  injury, 
he  sought  to  stir  up  troubles  in  Italy.  Soon  after  the  prince  had 
come  to  a  mature  age,  he  made  a  secret  proposal  to  the  King  of 
France,  Charles  VIII.,  to  march  to  the  conquest  of  Naples,  to  the 
throne  of  which  Charles  pretended  to  have  certain  rights,  derived 
from  the  house  of  Anjou.  The  policy  of  Ludovico  has  been  too 
greatly  blamed, — every  Italian  prince  called  in  the  foreigner  when 
it  suited  his  own  plans.  Charles  accepted  with  pleasure  the  offer, 
so  much  the  more  as  Ludovico  promised  to  aid  him  in  conquering 
that  kingdom,  now  under  the  rule  of  a  prince  named  Ferdinand  I. 
In  a  short  time  a  disciplined  army  of  French,  bringing  with  them 
cannon  in  great  number,  and  led  by  Charles  himself,  made  its 
appearance  before  the  gates  of  Milan,  where  it  was  impatiently 
expected  (1494).  Ludovico  had  carpets  and  flowers  strewn  along 
the  streets  through  which  the  monarch  was  to  pass,  and  went  him- 
self to  meet  him  at  the  head  of  the  chief  lords  of  the  court. 

Ludovico  wished   to  prevent  his   nephew   from  holding  any 
communication  with  Charles,  and  to  this  end  kept  him  in  a  certain 

289 


290  ITALY 

1494-1495 

way  prisoner  in  Pavia,  where  he  now  lay  ill;  but  the  king  went 
himself  to  visit  him,  and  the  young  duke  took  occasion  to  plead 
with  him  for  himself  and  his  children,  the  duchess  at  the  same  time 
throwing  herself  at  his  feet  and  beseeching  him  to  have  compas- 
sion on  her  unfortunate  husband  and  the  whole  family.  Charles, 
moved  by  her  tears,  raised  her  up  kindly  and  promised  not  to 
abandon  them.  But  the  king  was  light-minded  and  eager  for  gold, 
and  forgot  his  promise  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  his  departure.  On 
the  following  day  news  was  received  that  Gian  Galeazzo  was  dead, 
poisoned  by  his  uncle,  who  at  the  same  moment  proclaimed  himself 
Duke  of  Milan. 

The  King  of  France  on  his  way  to  Naples  had  to  pass  through 
Tuscany.  Here  he  encountered  great  difficulties,  and  if  the  valor- 
ous Lorenzi  de'  Medici  had  still  been  living,  he  would  probably  have 
been  worsted.  But  his  son  Piero  had  now  succeeded  him,  who, 
terrified  by  the  cruelties  which  the  French  exercised,  gave  them  a 
large  sum  of  money  and  put  them  in  possession  of  all  the  fortresses, 
for  which  act  the  people  drove  him  from  the  city  in  disgust. 

Thus,  then,  the  French  entered  Florence  victoriously.  The 
king  had  no  sooner  arrived  than  he  called  the  chief  citizens  together 
and  set  before  them  hard  conditions  of  peace.  When  the  Floren- 
tines objected,  Charles  said :  "  I  shall  sound  my  trumpets,"  in  reply 
to  which  one  of  the  citizens  answered :  "  And  we  shall  sound  our 
bells."  Impressed  by  this  reply  Charles  granted  easier  conditions, 
and  left  the  town  with  a  few  subsidies  only,  but  the  Medici  were 
not  recalled. 

On  arriving  at  Naples  he  seized  upon  the  throne  of  Ferdinand 
almost  without  a  contest  (February,  1495)  and  made  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  country ;  but  the  ill  conduct  of  the  French  soldiers  excited 
universal  indignation.  Many  Italian  princes,  the  Pope,  the  Vene- 
tians, Maximilian,  King  of  Germany,  Ferdinand  the  Catholic, 
nay,  even  Ludovico  himself,  for  he  now,  owing  to  French  success, 
feared  that  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  would  assert  his  claims  to 
Milan,  claims  which  he  derived  from  his  grandmother,  Valentina 
Visconti,  all  made  the  League  of  Venice  to  chase  the  French  out  of 
Italy.  Charles  VIII.,  when  he  heard  this  resolution,  set  out  imme- 
diately on  his  return  to  France.  Arriving  at  Fornovo,  he  encoun- 
tered the  army  of  the  allies.  A  fierce  battle  was  fought,  which  ended 
disastrously  for  the  French,  who  suffered  heavy  losses.  Even  the 
king  himself  scarcely  managed  to  cut  his  way  through  the  enemy, 


THE     FRENCH     IN     ITALY  291 

1495-1504 

with  a  part  of  his  troops,  as  far  as  Asti,  and  thence  to  escape  into 
France    (1495).     French  conquests  at  once  melted  away. 

After  these  events  things  remained  tranquil  in  Italy  for  some 
time,  although  the  Italians  had  not  learned  from  Charles's  expedi- 
tion the  need  of  union  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  until  another 
king  of  France,  Louis  XII.,  successor  to  Charles  VIII. ,  again 
passed  the  Alps  with  a  more  formidable  army,  to  avenge  the  losses 
of  his  predecessor,  and  also  to  make  good  his  own  claim  to  Milan. 
He  advanced  into  Italy  almost  without  opposition.  The  Duke  of 
Savoy  could  have  very  well  hindered  him,  but  either  fearing  he  had 
not  sufficient  forces,  or  wishing  to  preserve  peace  among  his  sub- 
jects, or  perhaps  because  the  King  of  France  had  promised  him  a 
portion  of  Lombardy,  certain  it  is  that  he  left  the  passes  of  the 
Alps  free.  Moreover,  Ludovico  il  Moro  had  incurred  the  hatred 
of  his  subjects  through  his  treatment  of  Gian  Galeazzo,  so  that  he 
vainly  attempted  to  defend  his  dukedom.  Venice  and  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.  had  allied  with  France,  and  Ludovico  had  not  a  single 
ally.  He  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  French  at  Novara,  just  as  he 
was  in  the  act  of  slipping  through  the  hands  of  the  enemy  in  the 
disguise  of  a  servant.  Thus  the  city  of  Milan  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  French,  and  Ludovico  himself  was  sent  into  France  in  1500. 
There  he  remained  ten  years  in  confinement  and  died  in  prison. 
Thus  the  prince  who  had  first  invited  the  French  into  Italy,  and 
barbarously  murdered  his  nephew  in  prison,  finished  his  days  in 
exile,  and  himself  died  a  prisoner.  The  French  held  Milan  till 
1512. 

At  this  time  arose  and  fell  a  power  which  rendered  itself  for 
a  while  formidable  in  Italy.  Caesar  Borgia,  son  of  Pope  Alexander 
VI.  (1492-1503),  better  known  under  the  name  of  Duke  of  Valen- 
tino, had  deliberated  how  he  could  best  put  down  the  minor  princes 
who  held  power  within  the  states  of  the  church.  He  had  just  suc- 
ceeded in  overcoming  them  all,  when,  on  the  death  of  the  Pope  and 
the  illness  of  the  duke  himself,  the  new  government  was  dissolved, 
and  the  duke,  after  having  been  taken  prisoner  by  Pope  Julius  II., 
escaped  to  Naples.  Captured  in  this  city,  he  was  sent  into  Spain, 
and  there  died  fighting  for  the  King  of  Navarre.  Meanwhile  Louis 
of  France  carried  on  war  for  the  conquest  of  Naples,  where  he  now 
found  Ferdinand  of  Spain  as  his  rival.  After  a  desperate  struggle 
Louis  was  finally  beaten  and  by  1504  Naples  passed  to  Spain. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  Venice  was  still 


292  ITALY 

1504-1511 

the  most  powerful  republic  of  Italy,  being  always  governed  by  the 
chief  men,  and  never  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  despots,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  republics  of  Florence  and  Genoa.  But  just 
as  a  man  surrounded  with  grandeur  easily  becomes  a  victim  to 
pride,  so  the  Venetians,  trusting  to  their  power,  were  eager  to  make 
themselves  masters  of  many  of  the  cities  which  belonged  to  other 
states. 

They  took  Rimini,  Faenza,  Cesena,  and  Ravenna,  which  had 
been  hitherto  in  the  possession  of  the  Papal  See;  they  occupied 
Dalmatia,  which  belonged  to  the  patriarchate  of  Aquileia,  and  they 
took  the  island  of  Cyprus.  Venice  had  thus  completely  changed  her 
earlier  character  by  acquiring  large  territories.  So  long  as  Italy 
was  left  to  itself  Venice  was  strong  enough  to  hold  her  own.  She 
was  soon  to  rue  her  mistake  in  calling  in  the  French.  Still  further, 
they  had  united  themselves  with  the  French  in  making  war  upon 
Ludovico,  on  the  agreement  that  part  of  Lombardy  should  be  ceded 
to  them.  In  a  word,  the  Venetians  threatened  to  extend  their 
dominion  so  far  as  to  arouse  the  jealousy  of  the  other  Italian  states, 
appropriating  to  themselves  many  cities,  districts,  and  provinces 
which  belonged  to  others.  For  this  reason,  the  principal  potentates 
of  Europe,  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  King  of  France,  the 
King  of  Spain  and  Pope  Julius  II.,  together  with  the  Florentines, 
the  dukes  of  Mantua,  of  Ferrara,  and  of  Savoy,  all  united  in  form- 
ing a  league,  and  made  an  agreement  to  support  each  other  in  fight- 
ing against  the  Venetians  with  their  united  forces.  The  place  where 
this  agreement  was  signed  with  Cambrai  (1508),  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, from  which  circumstance  it  was  called  the  Treaty  of 
Cambrai. 

The  Venetians,  however,  were  not  cast  down  when  they  saw 
themselves  assailed  by  the  forces  of  well-nigh  the  whole  of  Europe. 
Bartholomew  Alviano,  the  general  of  the  republic,  discomfited  the 
Germans,  and  went  out  to  meet  the  French  army  led  by  Louis  XII. 
The  two  armies  met  at  Agnadello,  a  village  of  the  Milanese  near 
the  River  Adda  (1509).  The  battle  was  sanguinary,  but  the  Vene- 
tians were  beaten.  Several  of  the  Lombard  cities  accordingly  sub- 
mitted to  the  French,  and  the  cities  of  the  Romagna  opened  their 
gates  to  their  former  master,  the  Pope,  while  Apulia  gave  itself  up 
to  the  Spanish. 

The  French,  abusing  their  victory,  instead  of  relieving  the 
Italians,  only  became  their  oppressors,  robbing,  killing,  and  sacking 


THE     FRENCH     IN     ITALY  293 

1511-1514 

their  houses.  The  Pope,  having-  recovered  his  lands,  feeling,  too, 
that  the  French  were  getting  too  strong,  detached  himself  from  the 
league  of  Cambrai,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  King-  of  Spain 
and  some  other  Italian  princes  joined  with  the  Venetians  in  the 
so-called  Holy  League  (1511)  against  the  French,  who  had  become 
the  common  enemies  of  all.  After  various  partial  attacks,  they 
came  to  a  pitched  battle  near  the  gates  of  Ravenna.  The  French, 
after  having  suffered  other  losses,  together  with  that  of  their  gen- 
eral, Gaston  de  Fois,  finally  gained  indeed  the  victory,  but  without 
reaping  any  real  advantage ;  whereas  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Maximil- 
ian Sforza,  son  of  Ludovico  il  Moro,  aided  by  20,000  Swiss,  drove 
the  French  entirely  out  of  Lombardy.  In  the  meantime,  the  French 
having  received  new  reinforcements,  and  the  Venetians  new  allies, 
the  Duke  of  Milan  and  his  Swiss  troops  were  obliged  to  shut  them- 
selves up  in  Novara,  where  they  were  closely  besieged. 

The  Swiss  were  mercenaries,  and  fought  for  whoever  would 
give  them  the  best  pay;  but  they  were  courageous,  and  performed 
prodigies  of  valor  when  they  found  themselves  in  face  of  the 
enemy.  Seeing  themselves  thus  besieged,  a  small  detachment 
parted  at  midnight  without  horses  or  cannon,  and  marched  silently 
up  to  the  batteries  of  the  enemy.  These  batteries  were  guarded  by 
German  soldiers,  who  had  been  enrolled  into  the  French  army.  In 
the  dead  of  the  night  the  Swiss  made  a  furious  onslaught  upon  them, 
which  was  as  furiously  resisted.  But  in  the  end  the  Swiss  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  artillery,  and  turned  the  fire  against  the 
French  and  Germans  themselves,  who  fled  in  confusion  across  the 
Alps.  In  this  way  Novara  was  liberated,  and  Lombardy  was  again 
brought  under  the  power  of  Maximilian  Sforza  in  15 13. 

But  the  French  could  not  rest  contentedly  under  this  discom- 
fiture, and  the  successor  of  Louis  XII.,  named  Francis  I.,  a  bold 
and  chivalric  man,  prepared  a  new  army  to  recover  Lombardy.  On 
arriving,  however,  at  the  Alps,  he  found  the  most  important  passes 
all  occupied  by  the  Swiss,  who  boasted  that  they  would  perform 
great  things  against  the  French  invaders.  Then  Giovanni  Trivul- 
zio,  a  Milanese,  who  had  served  a  long  time  in  France  and  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  Alps,  opened  for  them  a  passage  by  Mount 
Argentera,  and  descending  by  the  valley  of  Stura,  they  arrived  at 
Cuneo  and  Saluzzo,  while  the  Swiss  were  guarding  all  the  passes 
that  led  to  Susa. 

Prospero  Colonna,  general  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  was  encamped 


294 


ITALY 


1514-1515 


quite  unsuspiciously  at  Villafranca,  near  Saluzzo,  and  being  sur- 
prised there  by  Trivulzio,  was  made  prisoner  together  with  his 
whole  army.  The  allies  then  fell  back  upon  Milan,  and  the  king 
following  in  their  rear,  planted  his  camp  near  a  village  called 
Marignano,  on  the  road  to  Lodi. 


Then  the  allies,  thinking  all  delay  dangerous,  sallied  forth  from 
Milan  and  assailed  the  enemy.  This  unexpected  assault  gave  the 
signal  for  a  terrible  conflict.  For  two  whole  days  the  fight  was 
kept  up  on  either  side,  and  the  night  alone  gave  the  armies  some 
instants  of  repose.  The  battle  of  Marignano  has  been  called  a 
battle  of  giants,  from  the  incredible  efforts  made  by  the  two  armies, 
which  seemed  to  be  so  superior  to  the  valor  of  ordinary  men  that 
the  bravest  French  cavaliers,  who  had  fought  before  at  Agnadello, 
Ravenna,  and  Novara,  declared  that  they  had  never  seen  the  like 
before  (15 15). 


THE     FRENCH     IN     ITALY  295 

1515 

This  victory,  which  remained  at  last  with  the  French,  cost 
the  lives  of  15,000  Swiss,  and  the  relics  of  their  army  took  refuge 
among  the  mountains,  without  the  conquerors  having  the  spirit  to 
follow  them,  so  exhausted  were  they  by  the  fight.  Some  days  after 
this  splendid  victory,  which  brought  the  Milanese  under  the  power 
of  France,  Maximilian  Sforza,  finding  it  impossible  to  make  head 
against  the  enemy,  consented  to  evacuate  the  citadel  of  Milan,  and 
gave  himself  up  to  the  King  of  France.  Francis,  using  his  captive 
worthily,  permitted  him  to  retire  to  France,  where  he  allowed  him 
to  enjoy  liberty  and  an  honorable  rank  as  long  as  he  lived. 

The  battle  of  Marignano,  justly  celebrated  for  the  valor  shown 
by  the  French  and  the  allies,  was  the  last  combat  to  which  the  league 
of  Cambrai  gave  rise.  A  treaty  of  peace  concluded  between  Fran- 
cis I.  and  Charles,  successor  of  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  and  acceded  to 
by  the  emperor  in  a  small  town  of  France  called  Noyon,  put  an 
end  to  the  numberless  calamities  which  the  disagreement  between 
the  Pope  and  the  Venetians  had  brought  upon  Italy  for  above  eight 
years.  This  long  and  sanguinary  strife  produced  in  the  end  no 
other  effect  than  that  of  giving  over  the  Milanese  for  a  brief  time 
to  the  King  of  France,  and  restoring  to  the  See  of  Rome  the  cities 
which  had  been  wrested  from  it  and  the  restoration  of  the  Medici 
to  Florence,  which  had  a  very  important  effect  on  Italian  history. 
The  kingdom  of  Naples  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  King  of 
Spain;  and  Venice,  whose  prosperity  and  ambition  had  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  so  many  sovereigns,  continued  to  be  one  of  the  richest 
and  most  commercial  republics  in  Europe.  By  means  of  its  multi- 
tude of  ships,  of  its  rich  arsenal,  and  its  commercial  activity,  it 
was  still  enabled  to  import  the  productions  of  the  East,  and  above 
all,  its  spices,  and  distribute  them  throughout  the  cities  of  Italy, 
Germany,  and  France.  But  already  the  discoveries  by  the  Portu- 
guese of  the  route  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  had  dealt  an 
irreparable  blow  to  the  commerce  of  Venice.  The  Mediterranean 
ceased  to  be  the  center  of  trade,  which  now  became  oceanic. 


Chapter    XXXVIII 

THE    GOLDEN    AGE    OF   LEO   X.     1513-1521 

SEEING  that  Italy  had  now  become  the  scene  of  so  many  wars 
and  such  great  disasters,  one  would  naturally  suppose  that 
this  beautiful  country  must  again  have  fallen  into  barbarism 
similar  to  that  which  overwhelmed  all  Europe  after  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  Julius  II.  did  not  foresee  that  his  successor  on 
the  papal  throne  would  be  a  Medici,  but  on  his  death  Giovanni  de' 
Medici,  a  cardinal,  only  thirty-eight  years  old,  was  elected  Pope 
as  Leo  X.  (1513).  He  was  pleasure-loving  and  represented  the 
more  superficial  side  of  the  Renaissance,  but  was  a  lover  of  mag- 
nificence and  "  dallied  with  literature  and  art."  He  was  the  son 
of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  As  he  was  a  lover  of  learning,  he 
encouraged  artists  and  literary  men  with  great  liberality.  A  great 
number  of  famous  men  now  arose,  who  rendered  Italy  illustrious 
by  the  fruits  of  their  genius,  and  by  those  immortal  works  of  art 
which  to  the  present  day  excite  our  deepest  admiration.  This 
is  the  culmination  of  the  Renaissance.  It  will  be  interesting  accord- 
ingly to  relate  the  life  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  personages 
who  flourished  in  the  age  of  Leo  X.,  and  we  will  commence  with 
a  mathematician  of  Brescia  named  Tartaglia — the  same  man  who 
has  been  so  often  introduced  upon  the  stage  in  Italy. 

Young  Tartaglia  became  as  he  grew  up  a  studious  and  pro- 
foundly learned  man — the  first  man  in  Italy  who,  applying  geometry 
to  mechanics,  revived  these  valuable  sciences,  which  had  so  long 
languished  throughout  Europe,  and  which  might  have  been  lost 
had  not  the  orphan  of  Brescia  given  new  luster  to  them  by  his  appli- 
cation and  genius. 

Another  man  who  reached  the  height  of  his  fame  at  this  time 
was  Michael  Angelo  Buonarotti.  He  was  born  at  Caprese,  a  village 
in  Tuscany,  of  poor  parents,  who  instructed  their  children  in  the 
art  of  working  in  silk  and  wool.  Observing  in  Michael  Angelo  a 
particular  aptitude  for  study,  he  was  sent  to  school.  Following  this 
bent,  he  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  sketching  on  paper  figures 

29G 


MICHAEL    ANGELO    BUOXAROTTI 

"  The    Man   with    Four    Souls  " 

(Born    1475.       Died     1564) 

Ideal  portrait  based  on   one   in   the   Ufizzi,  Florence 


AGEOFLEOX.  297 

1513-1521 

of  men,  animals,  and  houses.  His  father  at  length,  willing  to  en- 
courage the  genius  of  his  son,  resolved  to  send  him  to  Florence  to 
study  painting  under  a  master  called  Ghirlandaio,  the  most  cele- 
brated artist  of  the  day.  The  scholar  made  such  progess  that  the 
master  himself  was  astonished.  One  day,  Ghirlandaio  being  absent, 
Michael  Angelo  drew  after  nature  the  scaffolding  upon  which  the 
painters  stand  to  work,  with  the  stools  and  instruments  of  art  all 
complete.  The  master  on  his  return,  seeing  the  sketch,  was  as- 
tounded at  the  perfect  imitation,  and  said,  "  This  lad  cannot  learn 
much  more  from  me !  " 

The  first  work  which  brought  Michael  Angelo  into  notice  was 
a  painting  which  represented  the  devil  tempting  St.  Anthony.  A 
little  time  after  he  was  employed  to  copy  a  head  from  an  old  master, 
and  Michael  Angelo  managed  to  copy  it  so  exactly  that  he  in  a  joke 
returned  the  copy  to  the  owner  as  though  it  had  been  the  original, 
and  no  one  was  aware  of  the  deception.  The  great  ability  and 
extraordinary  genius  of  Michael  Angelo  were  soon  spoken  of  in 
all  parts  of  Italy,  and  at  the  age  of  only  fifteen  Lorenzo  the  Mag- 
nificent received  him  into  his  house,  providing  for  him  as  though 
he  had  been  his  own  son. 

About  this  time  the  predecessor  of  Pope  Leo,  Julius  II.,  desir- 
ing to  make  Rome  the  finest  city  in  the  world,  as  it  was  already  the 
most  celebrated,  determined  to  raise  a  structure  of  surpassing 
grandeur.  For  this  purpose  he  invited  a  celebrated  Florentine  ar- 
chitect to  Rome,  called  Bramante,  and  gave  him  the  order  to  build 
near  the  Vatican,  a  basilica  of  such  magnificence  that  it  should  be 
considered  the  vastest  and  grandest  monument  in  the  world. 

While  Bramante  was  executing  the  orders  of  the  Pope,  and 
directing  the  works  at  the  Vatican,  it  became  evident  that  his 
advanced  age  would  never  give  him  time  to  terminate  the  under- 
taking, and  he  therefore  begged  the  Pope  to  invite  Buonarotti  to 
Rome.  As  the  Pope  was  disposed  to  value  very  highly  the  great 
merit  of  the  youth,  he  instructed  him  to  commence  a  mausoleum 
for  himself ;  and  at  the  same  time  Michael  Angelo  set  about  painting 
several  pictures  on  the  walls  of  the  papal  chapel,  since  termed  the 
Sistine  Chapel,  from  the  name  of  Pope  Sixtus,  by  whom  it  was 
erected.  He  ornamented  also  the  grand  roof  of  the  chapel  with 
pictures  taken  from  the  Bible,  and  made  a  bronze  statue  of  the 
Pope,  in  pontifical  dress,  which  Julius  II.  presented  to  the  city  of 
Bologna,  of  which  he  was  a  native. 


298  ITALY 

1513-1521 

While  Bramante  and  his  companion,  Buonarotti,  were  carry- 
ing on  their  works  at  Rome,  another  artist,  a  man  endowed  with 
extraordinary  genius,  named  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  was  flourishing  at 
Milan.  Leonardo  da  Vinci  (so  called  because  born  at  the  castle  of 
Vinci  in  Tuscany)  was  a  poet,  a  painter,  a  geometrician,  a  mechan- 
ician, and  a  musician ;  at  the  same  time,  he  was  skillful  in  all  bodily 
exercises,  was  able  to  tame  the  wildest  horses,  and  could  make  mar- 
ble statues  as  well  as  paint  pictures  in  the  liveliest  colors.  On  ac- 
count of  these  rare  endowments  Leonardo  da  Vinci  was  sought  for 
by  all  the  princes  of  Italy.  Julius  II.  had  no  rest  until  he  had  in- 
duced him  to  come  to  Rome  to  employ  his  genius  in  embellishing 
the  Vatican,  which  Bramante  was  then  engaged  in  repairing.  He 
continued  his  labors  at  Rome  throughout  nearly  the  whole  pontifi- 
cate of  Leo  X. ;  but  some  differences  having  arisen  between  him  and 
Buonarotti,  he  left  Rome  and  went  to  France,  where  he  knew  that 
the  king  held  him  in  great  esteem.  On  his  arrival  in  Paris  he  was 
honorably  received  by  the  sovereign,  Francis  I.,  and  lived  there  to 
an  honored  old  age.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  with  the 
renown  of  being  the  first  to  make  the  marvelous  products  of 
Italian  genius  known  and  honored  by  the  French. 

When  Buonarotti  had  finished  the  paintings  in  the  Vatican 
palace,  he  gave  his  whole  mind  to  the  construction  of  the  Roman 
basilica.  The  Emperor  Constantine  had  as  early  as  the  year  324 
raised  a  church  in  Rome  in  honor  of  the  chief  of  the  apostles. 
When  this  church  was  falling  into  ruins,  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  had  it  demolished  and  began 
to  build  another.  On  his  death,  Julius  II.  (about  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century)  conceived  the  idea  of  a  grander  structure, 
and  appointed  Bramante  to  carry  it  out.  The  works  progressed 
under  the  pontificate  of  Leo  X. ;  but  under  Paul  III.,  Buonarotti 
changed  in  great  part  the  design,  and  formed  the  conception  of 
that  immense  and  lofty  cupola  of  St.  Peter's  which  is  now  held  in 
such  universal  admiration.  This  grand  basilica,  being  of  such  vast 
proportions,  so  rich  in  marble  work,  paintings,  statues,  and  monu- 
ments, executed  in  every  variety  of  style,  required  more  than  two 
centuries  to  bring  it  to  a  full  completion.  It  engaged  the  zeal  of 
several  Popes,  and  employed  many  architects,  the  first  of  whom 
were  Bramante  and  Buonarotti;  it  engaged  also  the  services  of 
many  painters  and  sculptors,  so  that  it  may  truly  be  called  the 
greatest  temple  in  all  Christendom. 


■ 

'*:Va3l 


LEONARDO  DA   VINCI 
{Born    1452 — Died   15 19) 

Exact  reproduction  of  a  red  crayon  sketch  by  himself 
In  the  Royal  Library,  Turin 


AGEOFLEOX.  299 

1513-1521 

Among  the  celebrated  men  patronized  by  Leo  X.,  we  must 
mention  Raphael  Sanctius  (Rafaele  Sanzio),  a  native  of  Urbino, 
in  the  territory  of  Rome.  While  yet  a  youth  he  obtained  the  repu- 
tation of  being  one  of  the  first  artists  of  his  age,  and  was  therefore 
invited  by  the  Pope  to  adorn  the  galleries  which  surround  the  court 
of  the  Vatican  palace,  called  the  court  of  St.  Damaso.  Raphael  de- 
signed on  paper  more  than  one  hundred  scriptural  subjects,  and 
then  by  the  aid  of  some  of  his  best  scholars  he  executed  them  as 
frescoes  on  the  walls,  thus  producing  works  of  art  which  are 
visited  to  the  present  day  with  admiration.  Among  the  pictures 
painted  by  Raphael,  the  last  and  the  most  celebrated  is  the  Trans- 
figuration. This  picture,  considered  to  be  the  finest  in  the  world, 
was  taken  with  many  others  by  the  French  in  1797  and  transported 
to  Paris,  but  was  restored  to  Rome  after  the  year  18 14. 

The  Pope,  who  often  went  to  visit  him  during  his  illness,  or- 
dered that  the  magnificent  picture  of  the  Transfiguration  should  be 
placed  opposite  the  bed  on  which  he  was  laid  out.  His  death  was 
bewailed  as  a  public  calamity. 

But  these  were  not  the  only  great  men  who  rendered  the 
pontificate  of  Leo  X.  glorious.  Cardinals  Bembo  and  Sadoleto 
labored  successfully  for  the  restoration  of  letters  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  it  was  just  about  the  same  age  that  Tommaso, 
Gaetano,  and  Lorenzo  Campeggi  flourished,  all  illustrious  scholars 
in  ecclesiastical  lore.  But  erudition  now  was  too  often  merely  a 
servile  imitation;  form  became  all  important,  the  underlying  idea 
of  secondary  consequence,  and  the  same  thing  became  more  and 
more  the  rule  in  all  the  arts.  The  great  favor  with  which  Leo  re- 
ceived artists,  and  the  care  with  which  he  promoted  the  arts  and 
sciences,  rendered  this  period  memorable  as  the  Age  of  Leo  X. 

It  was  at  this  period  also  that  the  revolt  of  Luther  occurred  in 
Germany.  Leo,  like  some  of  his  predecessors  on  the  papal  throne, 
desirous  of  raising  money  for  artistic  and  for  pious  purposes  at 
home,  had  allowed  the  sale  of  indulgences  throughout  all  the  Cath- 
olic world.  By  these  indulgences  there  was  offered  in  the  case  of 
those  who  contributed  a  remission  of  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the 
temporal  punishment  due  to  sin.  Martin  Luther,  scandalized  by 
the  whole  system  of  procedure,  which  he  believed  was  encouraging 
vice  in  its  worst  forms,  preached  and  wrote  violently  against  it,  and 
maintained  on  the  words  of  Scripture  that  God  alone  could  forgive 
sins.     When  summoned  to  a  council  of  doctors  at  Augsburg  by 


300  ITALY 

1513-1521 

Cardinal  Cajetan,  lie  refused  to  recant  what  were  termed  his  errors, 
and  returned  home  resolute  to  proclaim  a  still  more  comprehensive 
war  against  the  papacy.  When  summoned  again  to  a  general  council 
at  Worms,  he  maintained  his  position  with  unshrinking  firmness, 
and  was  proclaimed  an  obstinate  heretic,  who  was  to  be  delivered 
over  to  Satan  and  burned.  But  Luther  had  now  obtained  the  support 
of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  and  other  German  princes,  and  set  the  Pope 
with  all  his  emissaries  at  defiance. 

Leo  X.  died  in  1521.  The  Senate  and  the  people  of  Rome, 
grateful  for  the  benefits  they  had  received  at  his  hands,  raised  a 
statue  to  his  memory  on  the  Capitol,  and  another  in  the  temple  of 
Minerva.  All  the  friends  of  literature  and  art,  as  well  as  his  own 
subjects,  bewailed  his  death,  regarding  him,  as  we  also  do  to  the 
present  day,  as  the  greatest  patron  of  learning  who  has  ever 
occupied  the  papal  throne. 


Chapter   XXXIX 

THE  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  CHARLES  V.  AND  FRANCIS  I. 
THE    PEACE   OF   CATEAU-CAMBRESIS.     1519-1559 

AT  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  I.,  the  Diet  of 
L\  Frankfort  was  assembled  and  chose  a  new  monarch,  in 
JL  jL  i  5 19.  The  choice  fell  upon  a  king,  grandson  of  Ferdi- 
nand the  Catholic  and  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  who  was  al- 
ready in  possession  of  Spain,  Naples,  Sicily,  the  Netherlands,  and 
of  all  America  as  far  as  then  discovered.  On  receiving  the  im- 
perial crown  he  took  the  name  of  Charles  V.  By  this  act  of  the 
diet,  Charles  now  became  possessor  of  Germany  as  well.  It  was 
owing  to  the  ability  of  this  monarch  that  the  Spanish  arms  rose  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  renown,  making  themselves  formidable  (over 
and  above  the  subjugation  of  America)  to  the  whole  of  Europe,  as 
we  shall  presently  see. 

Now  it  is  necessary  to  be  noted  that  Charles  V.  had  a  rival  in 
Francis  I.,  King  of  France,  who  as  well  as  himself  had  coveted  the 
imperial  crown.  This  sovereign  had  a  passion  for  great  enter- 
prises, and  had  already  carried  on  wars  in  which  many  of  his  gen- 
erals had  distinguished  themselves.  Under  the  reign  of  this  king, 
France  began  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  the  arts  and  sciences;  but  it 
was  also  under  his  reign  that  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  began  to 
be  disseminated  through  his  states — a  fact  which  led  to  many 
important  events  in  the  future  history  of  that  country. 

When,  therefore,  Francis  received  notice  that  Charles  had 
been  preferred  to  him,  he  was  so  indignant  that  he  determined  to 
stir  up  a  war.  Terrible  preparations  were  made  on  both  sides,  and 
Italy  was  to  be  the  theater  of  this  bloody  rivalship.  The  first  en- 
counter of  the  French  with  the  Imperialists  took  place  near  a  castle 
called  Bicocca  in  1522,  a  place  near  Novara,  and  fatally  celebrated 
for  the  battle  fought  between  the  Piedmontese  and  Austrians  in 
later  times.  There  a  conflict  now  ensued,  in  which  the  French, 
overcome  by  numbers,  were  worsted  and  compelled  to  abandon 
Italy.     After  this  event    Charles  gave  the  dukedom  of  Milan  to 

301 


302  ITALY 

1522-1525 

Francisco  Sforza,  brother  of  Maximilian,  of  whom  we  have  already 
spoken  as  having  been  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  French. 

These,  then,  were  the  first  trials  of  war  between  Charles  V. 
and  Francis  I.  They  had  not  yet  met  each  other  personally  in  bat- 
tle ;  but  now  the  King  of  France,  enraged  by  the  disaster  of  Bicocca, 
resolved  himself  to  conduct  a  numerous  army  into  Lombardy  in 
order  to  drive  the  Imperialists  out  of  the  dukedom  of  Milan.  The 
French  monarch,  at  the  head  of  the  most  brave  and  skillful  cap- 
tains of  the  country,  had  already  come  to  the  passage  of  the  Alps, 
when  he  discovered  that  Charles,  Duke  of  Bourbon,  his  nearest  re- 
lation, had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  him — Charles  was 
constable  of  the  kingdom,  and  therefore  head  of  all  the  forces. 
This  news  made  the  king  at  first  hesitate,  and  he  sent  a  large  de- 
tachment of  his  army  over  the  Alps  under  the  command  of  General 
Bonnivet,  who  soon  got  into  difficulties  and  had  to  return  to 
France.  Upon  this,  therefore,  Francis  determined  to  conduct  a 
still  more  numerous  army  in  person  across  the  Alps  into  Italy. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon,  who  had  feigned  illness  so  as  not  to 
have  any  appointment  in  the  army  of  invasion,  at  once  roused  him- 
self, and  managed  by  a  secret  route  to  join  the  imperial  army. 
Soon  after  this,  Francis  arrived  at  Milan,  where  he  found  his  army 
already  drawn  up  under  the  order  of  General  Bonnivet,  and  ready 
for  battle.  But  the  king,  knowing  that  a  vast  quantity  of  arms  and 
provisions  were  laid  up  in  Pavia,  resolved  first  to  gain  possession  of 
them,  and  went  with  all  his  forces  to  besiege  that  city.  But  as 
Pavia  was  vigorously  defended  by  the  citizens,  the  imperial  army, 
conducted  by  a  general  named  Lanoia,  and  by  the  Duke  of  Bour- 
bon, had  time  to  come  to  their  succor.  A  battle  was  fought  under 
the  walls  of  Pavia.  Prodigies  of  valor  were  exhibited,  and  there 
was  great  slaughter  on  both  sides,  but  victory  at  last  declared  itself 
for  the  Spanish  (1525).  "Never  since  the  days  of  Charles  the 
Great  had  the  idea  of  an  Empire  of  the  West  been  so  nearly  real- 
ized." Francis,  seeing  his  bravest  captains  fall  around  him,  threw 
himself  upon  the  foe  and  fought  desperately,  as  though  determined 
to  lose  his  life  on  the  field  of  battle,  but  at  last  fell  into  the  hands 
of  his  enemies.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  consternation  of 
France  when  the  loss  of  the  army  and  the  imprisonment  of  the  king 
came  to  be  known.  Francis  remained  prisoner  in  Spain  for  more 
than  a  year,  and  at  length  obtained  his  liberty  only  on  condition  of 
his  resigning  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  to  Charles,  and  giving  as 


CHARLES     V.     AND     FRANCIS     I.         303 

1525-1526 

hostages  twelve  of  the  chief  lords  of  France  to  serve  as  a  pledge 
for  the  maintenance  of  his  promise.  This  was  the  Peace  of 
Madrid  (1526),  which  Francis  immediately  declared  void  on  his 
return  to  France,  being  absolved  by  the  Pope. 

The  battles  of  Bicocca  and  of  Pavia  ought  certainly  to  have 
humiliated  the  King  of  France  and  the  French ;  but  no  sooner  had 
Francis  recovered  his  liberty  than  he  burned  with  the  desire  of 
revenge  more  ardently  than  ever,  and  new  troubles  soon  arose  both 
in  Germany  and  in  Italy.  The  Italians  formed  the  League  of 
Cognac  in  1526,  being  joined  by  Francis  I.,  to  oppose  the  Im- 
perialists and  free  themselves  from  their  yoke.  Up  to  this  time 
Charles  V.  had  respected  the  Pope;  but  Clement  VII.  had  joined 
the  League  of  Cognac  and  soon  was  to  suffer  the  consequences  of 
war. 

The  Spanish  army,  now  that  the  French  king  was  taken  and 
all  immediate  danger  at  an  end,  had  become  relaxed  in  discipline, 
and  appeared  more  in  the  character  of  those  adventurers  who,  when 
relieved  from  care,  fall  into  a  thousand  disorders,  and  dishonor  the 
profession  of  arms  by  turning  warfare  into  rapine  and  murder. 
The  Duke  of  Bourbon,  with  a  crowd  of  mercenary  soldiers,  among 
whom  were  above  13,000  Germans,  marched  forward  to  Rome. 
Clement  was  "  now  in  such  a  condition  that  he  did  not  know  where 
he  was."  An  eye-witness  said  Bourbon's  passage  through  the 
country  was  marked  by  every  kind  of  devastation.  The  cities,  the 
villages,  the  poorest  cottages  were  sacked,  and  the  unfortunate 
inhabitants  infamously  murdered. 

Giovanni  de'  Medici,  called  the  Knight  of  the  Black  Orders, 
attempted  to  make  head  against  them.  He  was  captain  of  an  army 
of  adventurers,  and  united  to  extraordinary  strength  great  courage 
and  military  science.  He  maintained  also  a  severe  discipline  in  his 
army,  which  had  produced  many  renowned  captains.  Giovanni  de' 
Medici  now  came  forward  to  oppose  the  Imperialists  with  all  his 
energy,  and  gained  many  advantages  over  them,  but  in  a  wild 
skirmish  he  was  struck  in  the  thigh  and  soon  after  died. 

The  armed  rabble  of  Bourbon,  freed  from  the  watchful  oppo- 
sition of  Giovanni  de'  Medici,  now  pursued  their  course  without 
delay,  and  soon  arrived  within  the  papal  states.  The  Pope  was 
taken  by  surprise,  not  imagining  that  a  Christian  prince  would  turn* 
his  arms  against  the  head  of  his  own  religion.  But  he  was  terribly 
undeceived  when  he  saw  the  Spanish  army  before    the    gates  of 


30 1  ITALY 

1526-1527 

Rome.  On  that  day  the  constable  dressed  himself  in  white  armor, 
the  better  to  be  visible  to  his  own  people,  and  never  ceased  urging 
his  soldiers  to  the  combat,  promising  that  they  should  enjoy  the 
sack  of  that  great  capital.  The  confusion  which  now  followed 
within  the  walls  of  Rome  is  indescribable.  The  Pope  demanded 
money  of  all  the  rich  citizens  to  make  the  necessary  preparations 
for  resistance,  but  they  all,  whether  through  folly  or  perfidy,  re- 
fused any  supplies  for  the  succor  of  their  country,  and  that  at  a 
moment  when  they  ought  to  have  sacrificed  everything  for  it,  even 
to  the  last  farthing.  Still  the  Pope  ordered  the  gates  to  be  shut, 
and  a  grand  defense  to  be  made.  The  Imperialists  not  being  able 
to  enter  the  city  freely,  as  they  wished,  assailed  the  bastions,  but 
were  thrown  back  into  the  fosses  by  the  Romans.  Seeing  this,  the 
constable  took  a  ladder,  placed  it  against  the  wall,  and  courageously 
ascended;  but  being  struck  by  a  musket  ball,  he  fell  dead  to  the 
ground,  expiating  his  perfidy  with  his  life.  This  circumstance  ir- 
ritated the  enemy  beyond  measure,  who  rushed  from  every  quarter, 
and  having  overcome  a  most  obstinate  resistance,  scaled  the  walls, 
descended  into  the  streets,  occupied  the  city,  and  gave  it  over  to  be 
sacked  (May  6,  1527). 

It  is  wholly  impossible  to  describe  the  cruel  rapacity  of  the 
soldiers,  the  murders  and  the  horrors  of  that  fatal  day,  and  for  three 
months  Rome  was  miserably  given  a  prey  to  the  fury  of  an  un- 
bridled soldiery.  Nothing  was  spared,  neither  private  houses  nor 
churches,  by  those  wretches  who  had  neither  country  nor  religion 
to  bind  them.  "  The  Sack  of  Rome  may  well  be  said  to  close  the 
period  of  the  greatness  of  Italy.  No  longer  was  she  to  be  the 
leader  of  the  new  learning  and  of  art."  *  The  Pope  himself,  after 
having  taken  refuge  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  fell  into  their 
hands,  and  promised  to  pay  the  sums  of  money  demanded,  but  as 
he  had  no  ready  money,  his  imprisonment  threatened  to  be  long. 

Charles  himself,  who  had  returned  to  Spain,  when  he  was  in- 
formed of  the  enormities  which  had  been  perpetrated  in  his  name, 
put  on  mourning,  and  feigning  to  be  profoundly  afflicted  for  the 
indignities  which  the  Pope  had  suffered,  set  the  Pope  at  liberty, 
accepting  the  papal  promise  to  pay  November  26.  On  December  6 
Clement  fled  from  Rome  to  Orvieto.  But  Charles  was  really  in- 
fluenced in  his  wish  to  conciliate  the  Pope  only  by  the  discords 
which  were  breaking  out  in  different  parts  of  his  own  dominions, 
1  A.   H.  Johnson,  "  Europe  in  the   16th   Century,"  p.    187. 


O        <5 

c      <=< 
as      C 


CHARLES     V.     AND     FRANCIS     I.         305 

1527-1530 

and  finally  they  came  to  terms.  In  February,  1530,  the  Pope 
crowned  Charles  Emperor.  In  1529,  by  the  Peace  of  Cambrai, 
the  French  had  given  up  all  their  claims  to  Italy,  and  the  peninsula 
now  passed  under  Spanish  influence. 

During  the  long  struggle  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  L, 
Piedmont  suffered  greatly.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  it  was 
governed  by  Philibert  II.,  who  maintained  peace  throughout  his 
dominions.  But  dying  in  the  flower  of  his  life,  aged  twenty-four, 
he  was  succeeded  by  Charles  III.,  a  most  unfortunate  prince,  who 
had  the  sorrow  of  seeing  all  his  dominions,  with  the  exception  of 
Vercelli  and  Nice,  seized  upon  and  taken  out  of  his  hands.  In 
these  straits  he  retired  to  Nice,  which  sustained  a  long  siege  with 
admirable  courage.  Deeds  of  prowess  were  performed  worthy  of 
being  placed  by  the  side  of  those  of  the  ancient  Romans,  even  the 
women  vying  with  each  other  in  bravery.  Charles  III.,  having  lost 
his  wife  and  eight  children,  died  of  grief  in  the  city  of  Vercelli,  in 
the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  reign. 

Ever  since  Count  Carmagnola  got  possession  of  the  city  of 
Genoa  in  the  name  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Philip  Maria  Visconti,  by 
whom  he  had  been  appointed  general,  and  indeed  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after,  Genoa  was  subjected  to  many  outward  vicissi- 
tudes, and  suffered  greatly  from  internal  discords,  from  foreign 
wars,  and  from  a  frequent  change  of  the  princes  under  whose  pro- 
tection the  people  placed  themselves.  At  one  time  they  gave  their 
fealty  to  France,  at  another  to  the  Germans,  and  then  again  to  the 
dukes  of  Milan.  In  the  long  hostilities  which  were  carried  on  be- 
tween Charles  V.  and  Francis  L,  the  Genoese,  actuated  by  the  hope 
of  protection,  gave  themselves  up  to  the  French,  and  intrusted  the 
government  of  the  republic  to  a  very  able  townsman  named  Andrea 
Doria.  Doria  had  already  faced  the  gravest  dangers,  and  waged 
many  a  war  for  the  good  of  his  country,  and  had  well  merited  the 
office  of  doge.  But  he  was  not  willing  to  accept  any  dignity,  and 
contented  himself  with  the  name  of  first  citizen,  being  always  ready 
to  carry  out  any  schemes  that  might  turn  to  the  interest  of  his 
country.  But  now  he  soon  came  to  see  that  the  French,  in  place  of 
defending  the  republic,  only  oppressed  it,  and  brought  it  to  pov- 
erty by  excessive  imposts.  He  besought  the  king,  therefore,  that 
as  a  reward  for  the  long  services  he  had  rendered  in  the  war,  he 
would  withdraw  every  foreign  soldier,  and  restore  to  the  city  a  free 
government. 


306  ITALY 

1530-1537 

Francis  rejected  this  petition,  and  Doria  changing  sides,  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  Charles  V.  Doria  accordingly,  being  now 
constituted  admiral  of  the  emperor's  fleet,  sailed  to  Genoa  with  his 
ships  and  raised  the  whole  city  against  the  French,  proclaiming  it 
once  more  a  free  republic. 

During  the  period  of  which  we  have  been  speaking  a  great 
misfortune  happened  to  the  city  of  Florence.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  Piero  de'  Medici  was  driven  out  of  Florence  with  all  his 
relations  in  1494.  After  eighteen  years  of  exile  the  Medici  suc- 
ceeded in  being  recalled  to  their  country,  and  reassuming  the  reins 
of  government.  But  in  1527  the  Florentines  again  banished  the 
Medici,  and  formed  themselves  into  a  republic,  out  of  which  natu- 
rally arose  new  wars  and  new  troubles  to  the  citizens.  Charles  V., 
after  having  reconciled  himself  with  the  Pope,  dispatched  the  very 
same  army  which  had  sacked  Rome  to  besiege  Florence,  in  order 
to  force  upon  the  citizens  the  sovereign  whom  they  had  shortly 
before  driven  out  from  the  town. 

The  Florentines  were  not  sufficient  in  numbers  to  make  head 
against  a  disciplined  army;  still,  trusting  to  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  they  determined  to  resist  to  the  last  extremity.  But  as  a 
government  is  nothing  without  a  head,  they  were  induced  in  the 
present  confusion  of  things  to  make  an  election  quite  unparalleled 
in  history.  A  man  arose  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  and  said  that, 
in  order  to  render  the  republic  invincible,  they  should  proclaim 
Jesus  Christ  King  of  Florence!  And,  who  would  believe  it?  every- 
one adhered  to  this  strange  proposal,  and  there  was  immediately 
inscribed  upon  the  gates  of  the  municipal  palace  in  large  characters, 
"  Jesus  Christ,  King  of  the  Florentines,  elected  by  decree  of  the 
people  and  the  Senate !  "  The  Florentines  made  a  heroic  resistance, 
distinguished  by  the  bravery  of  their  leader,  Francesco  Ferruccio, 
but  the  enemy  were  irresistibly  strong  and  the  city  finally  had  to 
yield. 

Ferruccio,  in  making  a  sortie,  was  mortally  wounded  at 
Gravignana.  It  then  became  necessary  for  the  Florentines  to  come 
to  terms,  and  it  was  agreed  with  Charles  V.  that  they  should  rec- 
ognize the  Medici  as  legitimate  sovereigns,  and  that  Alessandro  de' 
Medici  should  be  recognized  as  Duke  of  Tuscany,  with  the  right  of 
transmitting  the  same  dignity  to  his  heirs.  Alessandro  was  wholly 
unworthy  of  the  office  to  which  he  was  raised ;  he  proved  avaricious 
and  cruel,  and  was  at  last  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  relations  in 


CHARLES     V.     AND     FRANCIS     I.         307 

1537-1559 

the  year  1537.  After  him  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  son  of  the  celebrated 
John  of  the  Black  Band,  was  created  Duke  of  Florence,  and  from 
him  originated  the  long  series  of  dukes  of  Tuscany,  who  later  on 
took  the  name  of  grand  dukes.  Liberty  was  now  crushed  out  at 
Siena,  Lucca,  Bologna,  and  wherever  it  still  existed.  The  Spaniards 
controlled  everything. 

Shortly  after  the  fall  of  the  Republic  of  Florence  that  of 
Siena  fell  likewise.  It  had  twice  driven  out  the  Spaniards  with 
great  heroism;  and  Cosmo,  Duke  of  Florence,  had  sent  20,000 
men  to  besiege  it,  but  they  were  courageously  repelled.  At  length, 
after  the  death  of  Strozzi,  its  gallant  defender,  Siena  was  obliged 
to  accept  the  most  humiliating  conditions  of  peace.  In  1540,  on 
the  death  of  Sforza,  the  emperor  made  his  son  Philip  Duke  of 
Milan. 

These  events  bring  us  to  the  year  1559,  an  epoch  rendered  im- 
portant by  the  many  remarkable  events  which  transpired,  and 
which  complete  the  period  of  sixty-seven  years  since  the  discovery 
of  America.  During  this  space  of  time,  art,  science,  and  commerce 
flourished  in  Italy,  though,  as  far  as  political  affairs  are  concerned, 
the  country  was  rent  asunder  by  the  ambitious  projects  of  France 
and  Spain.  When  Charles  V.  retired  from  the  empire  he  ceded 
Germany  to  his  brother,  who  was  elected  emperor  under  the  name 
of  Ferdinand  I.  He  then  made  over  Spain,  America,  the  Low 
Countries,  Burgundy,  Sardinia,  the  two  Sicilies,  and  Milan  to  his 
son  Philip  II.,  and  thus  it  was  that  Austria  came  to  be  wholly  sep- 
arated from  Spain.  The  King  of  France,  Henry  II.,  always  envious 
of  the  grandeur  of  Spain,  profited  by  this  separation  to  bring  about 
a  war  against  the  new  sovereign,  and  Flanders  became  the  scene 
of  a  sanguinary  conflict.  After  many  skirmishes,  a  pitched  battle 
was  fought  near  St.  Quentin,  in  the  Netherlands.  The  Duke  of 
Savoy,  Emmanuel  Philibert,  commander  of  the  Spanish  forces, 
performed  deeds  of  heroic  valor,  and  succeeded  in  gaining  a  com- 
plete victory  over  the  French.  The  statue  of  this  great  general  is 
now  standing  in  the  Piazza  of  St.  Carlo  at  Turin.  By  this  victory, 
accordingly,  Philibert  recovered  Savoy,  restored  to  him  in  the 
Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis  (1559)  between  France  and  Spain.  A 
new  period  now  begins  for  Italy,  which  no  longer  resists  servitude, 
but  resigns  herself.  The  spirit  of  the  Renaissance  dies  out  and 
Italy  becomes  lethargic. 

Philibert,  on  his  return  to  his  own  dominions,  found  them  a 


308  ITALY 

1559 

prey  to  great  disorder;  putting  aside,  therefore,  all  thoughts  of 
war,  he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  the  good  of  his  country.  He 
repaired  the  fortifications,  put  on  foot  a  numerous  militia,  did  away 
with  the  remains  of  feudalism,  restored  the  treasury,  reorganized 
the  administration  of  justice,  and  warmly  promoted  the  arts  and 
sciences.  He  made  Turin  the  capital  of  his  states,  transferring  to 
that  city  the  courts  and  the  Senate,  and  founding  a  university  for 
the  encouragement  of  learning. 


Chapter   XL 

THE   LAST   OF    ITALIAN   LIBERTY.     1560-1618 

NO  sooner  had  the  wars  in  Italy  come  to  an  end  than  the 
Italians  found  that  along-  with  the  loss  of  political  lib- 
erty they  had  also  lost  all  intellectual  freedom  and  the 
measures  taken  to  prevent  heresy  served  to  suppress  all  literary  life. 
To  the  humanistic  Popes  succeeded  a  series  zealous  to  uphold  dogma 
in  all  lands  still  under  the  sway  of  Rome.  Between  the  political  des- 
potism of  the  Spaniards  and  native  princes  and  the  diminished  zeal 
of  some  succeeding  Popes,  all  initiative  died  out  in  Italy,  which 
slowly  became  apathetic.  The  city  of  Venice,  by  reason  of  the  many 
islands  it  possessed,  could  still  be  considered  as  Queen  of  the  Seas. 
But  it  had  lost  much  of  its  former  splendor,  since  the  Spaniards  had 
become  masters  of  America,  and  opened  up  a  new  field  for  com- 
merce with  those  distant  countries.  The  Turks,  who  had  now  held 
Constantinople  for  more  than  one  hundred  years,  saw  with  regret 
that  the  Venetians  possessed  islands  and  cities  in  the  very  midst 
of  their  vast  empire,  and  began  by  demanding  of  them  the  island 
of  Cyprus.  When  this  demand  was  refused,  they  put  on  foot 
an  army  of  80,000  infantry,  3000  cavalry,  and  a  formidable  artillery. 
With  this  host  of  barbarians  the  Emperor  Selim  II.  besieged  Nicosia 
and  Famagosta,  the  two  strongest  cities  in  the  island.  Nicosia 
fell  after  a  valorous  defense ;  Famagosta,  commanded  by  an  illustri- 
ous Venetian  named  Bragadino,  repulsed  the  Turkish  army  no  less 
than  six  times,  and  destroyed  so  large  a  number  of  men  that  it  had 
to  be  continually  reinforced. 

But  as  the  Turkish  fleet  prevented  the  Italians  from  bringing 
succor  to  the  besieged,  Bragadino  soon  found  himself  in  the  most 
extreme  want  both  of  provisions  and  of  men.  The  Venetians  then 
sent  to  the  Pope  to  beg  that  he  would  in  some  way  come  to  their 
succor,  and  aid  them  in  humbling  the  pride  of  the  Ottomans,  those 
most  ferocious  enemies  of  Christianity.  The  Roman  pontiff,  Pius 
V.,  had  recourse  to  the  King  of  Spain,  Philip  II.,  and  to  Duke 
Emmanuel  Philibert.    The  King  of  Spain  put  on  foot  a  large  army, 

309 


310  ITALY 

1570-1571 

and  gave  the  command  to  his  younger  brother,  Don  John  of  Aus- 
tria. The  Duke  of  Savoy  also  willingly  agreed  to  send  a  select 
number  of  soldiers,  who,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  forces 
gathered  from  different  parts  of  Italy,  united  with  the  Spanish 
army  near  Messina.  The  soul  of  the  whole  undertaking  was  a 
Venetian  named  Sebastiano  Veniero,  and  a  noble  Roman  called 
Marc  Antony  Colonna.  The  latter,  in  consideration  of  his  great 
valor,  had  been  appointed  Constable  of  Naples  and  Viceroy  of 
Sicily.  In  the  present  expedition  he  commanded  twelve  galleys  in 
the  name  of  the  Pope.  At  the  sight  of  such  a  vast  assembly  of 
warriors,  all  animated  for  conflict  in  a  holy  cause,  everyone  con- 
ceived that  the  expedition  could  only  end  in  marked  success.  Al- 
ready the  sails  were  unfurled  to  proceed  to  Cyprus,  when  the  sad 
news  arrived  that  Bragadino  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  en- 
emy, who  against  all  law  and  faith  had  ordered  him  to  be  flayed 
alive.  In  the  midst  of  these  most  horrid  sufferings  Bragadino 
made  no  lamentation,  but  gloried  in  dying  for  his  religion  and  his 
country. 

The  Turks,  elated  by  this  success,  now  with  one  accord  di- 
rected their  steps  toward  Italy,  and  came  into  conflict  with  the 
Italian  fleet  near  the  gulf  of  Lepanto,  in  Greece.  The  Christians, 
who  had  264  vessels  of  all  sizes  with  26,000  soldiers,  burning  to 
avenge  the  death  of  the  great  Bragadino,  and  impatient  to  measure 
their  strength  with  the  enemies  of  God  and  man,  assaulted  the 
Turks,  who  had  about  300  vessels,  with  the  greatest  ferocity,  who 
on  their  part  made  a  brave  resistance.  A  terrible  spectacle  ensued. 
The  armies  met  at  close  quarters ;  every  vessel  seemed  to  vomit  fire 
as  though  from  a  hundred  cannons;  death  revealed  itself  in  every 
form;  the  masts  and  the  tackling  of  the  ships,  split  by  the  cannon 
balls,  fell  upon  the  combatants;  the  cries  of  the  wounded  mingled 
with  the  roaring  of  the  waves  and  the  noise  of  the  cannon  (Octo- 
ber 7,  1571). 

In  the  midst  of  this  fearful  conflict,  Veniero,  perceiving  that 
confusion  began  to  show  itself  among  the  Turkish  ships,  suddenly 
prepared  a  number  of  small  galleys,  filled  with  men  most  expert  in 
artillery,  and,  going  round  the  lofty  ships  of  the  enemy,  poured  into 
them  volley  after  volley.  At  this  critical  moment,  while  the  con- 
fusion of  the  enemy  was  increasing,  an  eager  enthusiasm  was  ex- 
cited among  the  hosts  of  the  Christians,  who  raised  on  every  side 
the  cry  of  "  Victory!    Victory!  "    On  this,  the  Turkish  ships  made 


LAST     OF     ITALIAN     LIBERTY  311 

1571-1576 

for  land,  while  the  Venetians  followed  and  crushed  them.  The 
battle  became  a  slaughter;  the  sea  was  covered  with  garments,  with 
splinters  from  the  ships,  with  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Thirty  thou- 
sand Turks  fell  in  the  conflict,  and  two  hundred  of  their  galleys 
were  left  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  news  of  this  victory  brought  universal  joy  into  all  the 
countries  of  Christendom.  The  Senates  of  Genoa  and  Venice  de- 
creed that  the  7th  day  of  October  should  be  kept  in  perpetuity  as  a 
day  of  joy  and  festivity.  The  pontiff,  Pius  V.,  when  he  heard  of 
the  victory  achieved,  could  not  refrain  from  applying  to  Don 
Giovanni  of  Austria  the  words  of  the  gospel :  "  There  was  a  man 
sent  from  God,  and  his  name  was  John  "  (Giovanni). 

The  next  in  command  after  Don  John  and  Veniero  was  Gen- 
eral Colonna,  who  contributed  with  his  galleys  greatly  to  the  glory 
of  the  day,  and  Giovanni  Andrea  Doria  of  Genoa. 

When  the  news  of  the  victory  of  Lepanto  came  to  the  ears  of 
Philip  II.,  instead  of  rejoicing  at  the  glory  which  accrued  to  his 
kingdom,  he  was  only  moved  by  jealousy  against  his  brother,  Don 
John  of  Austria.  The  Venetians  acted  very  differently  toward 
Veniero,  for  out  of  gratitude  for  his  service  they  elected  him  doge 
in  1576. 

We  must  now  turn  for  a  minute  to  describe  the  terrible  rav- 
ages of  the  disease,  termed  variously  pest,  pestilence,  contagion,  or 
epidemic,  which,  after  having  caused  great  destruction  in  various 
parts  of  Italy,  came  to  a  focus  in  Milan  in  the  year  1576.  The 
authors  of  those  days  speak  of  the  plague  of  Milan  as  one  of  the 
most  horrible  calamities  of  the  age.  It  first  showed  itself  in  the 
hospitals,  then  commenced  to  attack  weakly  persons,  and  especially 
those  who  gave  themselves  up  to  excesses  in  eating  or  drinking. 
Finally,  it  invaded  every  house  without  distinction.  Lazaretti  were 
established  without  the  city,  but  these  were  soon  filled  to  overflow- 
ing. It  was  a  lamentable  spectacle  which  everywhere  presented 
itself.  It  often  happened  that  a  party  of  friends  would  set  them- 
selves at  table,  and  in  the  middle  of  dinner  several  would  be  struck 
with  plague,  changing  their  festivity  into  mourning;  often  when 
fathers  or  mothers  went  to  call  their  children  in  the  morning,  they 
found  them  dead  or  dying.  Men  were  seen  to  fall  down  here  and 
there  in  the  public  streets,  and  those  who  ran  to  give  them  aid 
would  be  struck  down  themselves  at  the  same  instant.  Husband- 
men were  struck  down  at  the  plow.     Masters  who  had  retired  over 


312  ITALY 

1576-1577 

night  in  good  health  were  found  dead  in  the  morning  by  the 
servants,  and  some  were  even  found  dead  in  their  carriages  when 
they  had  been  out  for  a  short  drive. 

The  terrified  citizens  fled  wherever  they  could,  and  soon  the 
city  and  the  lazaretti  contained  only  dead  and  dying,  without  there 
being  anyone  to  bring  aid,  either  temporal  or  spiritual.  But  Provi- 
dence, which  watches  over  the  destiny  of  mankind,  raised  up  one 
who,  by  his  courage,  his  zeal,  and  his  charity,  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
suffering — St.  Carlo  Borromeo. 

This  extraordinary  man  had  led  a  pure  and  innocent  life  from 
his  infancy.  His  excellent  education,  his  diligence  in  study,  joined 
to  great  discretion,  his  wisdom  and  tact  in  managing  great  affairs, 
had  raised  him  to  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  and  three  years  later  he  was  consecrated  Archbishop  of 
Milan,  just  before  the  plague  broke  out.  He  had  already  been  ex- 
posed to  much  persecution  on  the  part  of  the  governor  of  the  city, 
because,  wishing  to  mix  himself  up  with  affairs  of  the  church,  the 
bishop  opposed  him ;  in  short,  he  was  just  on  the  point  of  leaving 
his  diocese  when  the  pest  made  its  appearance.  The  governor, 
though  a  brave  general,  was  one  of  the  first  to  abandon  Milan,  and 
took  no  further  notice  of  the  archbishop. 

Then  was  seen  what  a  good  shepherd  of  the  flock  can  do  for 
the  relief  of  the  wretched.  Surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  unfortunates 
who  besought  temporal  and  spiritual  aid,  he  determined  to  devote 
his  life  for  his  people,  and  to  enter  himself  into  the  houses  in  order 
to  succor  those  who  were  plague-stricken.  Accordingly,  he  made 
his  will,  leaving  everything  he  had  to  the  poor.  Then  he  employed 
all  he  possessed — gold,  silver,  household  furniture,  linen,  and  even 
his  own  garments — for  the  benefit  of  the  suffering.  And  when  this 
marvelous  charity  failed  to  supply  the  great  need  under  which  the 
city  and  the  country  around  were  suffering,  many  of  the  nobles, 
urged  on  by  his  example,  sent  him  timely  succor;  and  even  great 
ladies  were  glad  to  deprive  themselves  of  their  diamonds  and  jew- 
els, in  order  to  send  them  to  the  prelate  and  convert  them  into  alms. 
Carlo  also  devoted  himself  to  reforming  the  churches  and  the 
clergy,  where  reform  was  greatly  needed,  as  well  as  the  monks  and 
nuns;  he  also  watched  carefully  over  public  morals,  trying  to 
restrain  popular  licentiousness.  But  his  efforts,  like  all  those  of 
the  period,  were  merely  ecclesiastic  and  disciplinary.  Dogma  was 
strengthened  without  improving  character,    the    spirit    was   tamed 


LAST     OF     ITALIAN     LIBERTY  313 

1577-1590 

without  elevating  the  soul.  Soon  after  this,  the  disease  began  to 
abate,  and  after  a  while  disappeared,  having  raged  for  more  than 
eighteen  months. 

Our  history  has  now  brought  us  down  to  the  pontificate  of 
Gregory  XIII.,  1 572-1 585,  which  has  become  memorable  for  the 
reform  of  the  calendar  which  then  took  place.  The  days  of  the 
year  were  calculated  previous  to  this  time  by  the  ordinary  Calendar 
of  Julius  Caesar.  In  this  calendar  it  was  reckoned  that  the  sun  per- 
formed its  course  in  365  days  and  6  hours,  consequently  every 
four  years  an  additional  day  had  to  be  added  to  the  length  of  the 
year,  and  the  discrepancy  was  supposed  to  be  rectified.  But  more 
exact  observations  showed  that  the  above  calculation  allowed  eleven 
minutes  too  much  to  indicate  the  precise  time  of  the  earth's  revolu- 
tion, and  this  difference  of  time  produced  a  discrepancy  of  one  day 
in  every  130  years.  In  the  revolution  of  the  ages,  accordingly,  the 
fixed  periods  of  the  year  now  came  ten  days  too  soon ;  and  Gregory, 
perceiving  the  error  thus  occasioned  in  the  time  of  the  festivals  of 
the  church,  called  together  an  assembly  of  the  first  astronomers  of 
his  time  at  Rome,  to  consult  as  to  what  plan  could  be  best  adopted 
to  obviate  it.  By  their  advice  he  decreed  that  in  every  four  cen- 
turies there  should  be  one  leap  year  less,  which  would  exactly  make 
up  one  day,  to  counterbalance  the  yearly  accumulation  of  eleven 
minutes.  To  bring  the  seasons  now  to  their  right  place,  it  was 
agreed  that  in  the  year  1582  ten  days  should  be  taken  out  of  the 
month  of  October.  All  the  princes  of  Europe  except  the  Emperor 
of  Russia  adopted  this  reform,  which  has  taken  the  name  of  the 
Gregorian  Calendar. 

To  Gregory  XIII.  succeeded  Pope  Sixtus  V.,  1584- 1590,  a 
man  of  humble  birth,  but  who  had  raised  himself  by  his  merits  to 
be  considered  worthy  of  the  high  dignity  to  which  he  attained.  He 
succeeded  in  clearing  the  Roman  states  of  the  robbers  which  in- 
fested them,  had  water  brought  into  the  city  from  a  great  distance, 
raised  a  lofty  obelisk  in  the  Piazza  of  St.  Peter's,  and  restored  the 
exhausted  treasury.  He  it  was  who  removed  the  heads  of  the 
statues  of  Trajan  and  Antonine  from  their  columns  to  replace 
them  by  those  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  displaying  in  various 
other  ways  a  Christian  vandalism  toward  the  pagan  monuments  of 
Rome.  His  designs  with  regard  to  foreign  affairs  were  still  more 
important.  But  his  death,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1590,  pre- 
vented the  completion  of  all  these  designs. 


lill  1  T  A  L  Y 

1590-1618 

We  must  now  return  to  the  affairs  of  Venice.  While  Europe 
had  been  engaged  in  religious  wars,  Venice  had  up  to  this  time  re- 
mained true  to  its  ancient  faith,  and  thus  enjoyed  comparative 
peace  in  the  midst  of  the  religious  troubles  of  the  time.  It  was 
nearly  brought,  however,  to  an  open  rupture  with  Rome  through 
the  influence  of  Paolo  Sarpi,  an  ecclesiastic  of  extraordinary  learn- 
ing and  unblemished  character.  Sarpi  had  become  disgusted  with 
the  intrigues  of  the  Roman  court,  and  had  opened  a  correspondence 
with  some  of  the  leading  Protestants  of  the  day.  When,  therefore, 
the  Venetian  Senate,  chiefly  through  his  instrumentality,  was 
brought  into  conflict  with  the  Pope,  Sarpi  prevailed  on  them  not  to 
yield.  The  Pope,  accordingly,  issued  an  excommunication  against 
the  doge  and  Senate,  and  placed  the  whole  dominion  under  an  in- 
terdict. Venice  was,  in  fact,  at  the  very  point  of  following  in  the 
wake  of  England  and  Germany,  and  separating  itself  definitely 
from  the  Roman  See,  when  the  King  of  France  and  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  intervened,  and  brought  about  a  reconciliation.  Sarpi,  how- 
ever, remained  unreconciled,  and  labored  seventeen  years  longer  to 
bring  about  a  reformation,  but  at  length  died  without  securing  this 
object.  No  sooner  were  these  religious  discords  brought  to  a 
termination  than  new  disasters  arose,  caused  by  a  band  of  assassins 
named  the  Uscocchi.  These  brigands  lived  among  the  rocks  on  the 
shore  of  the  Adriatic  in  Dalmatia,  whence  they  made  terrible 
incursions  against  the  Venetians,  plundering  and  murdering  all 
they  could.  When  pursued,  they  took  refuge  in  the  Austrian  states ; 
and  the  Duke  of  Austria,  Ferdinand  by  name,  protected  them,  and 
even  went  so  far  as  to  proclaim  open  war  against  the  Venetians  on 
their  behalf.  The  Spaniards  also  stood  by  the  Austrians  in  this 
matter,  and  the  republic  had  to  maintain  a  homicidal  war  for  three 
years,  until  a  treaty  of  peace  was  at  length  concluded,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  duke  pledged  himself  to  remove  these  terrible  bands  of 
brigands  to  more  distant  quarters. 

While  the  facts  above  related  were  transpiring  a  more  serious 
circumstance  arose  which  threatened  the  fortune  of  Venice  still 
more  gravely.  The  Viceroy  of  Naples  and  the  Governor  of  Milan, 
jealous  of  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  republic  and  anxious  to 
win  credit  for  themselves  with  the  Spanish  king,  their  master,  en- 
tered into  a  plot,  by  means  of  their  ambassadors,  against  Venice, 
which,  though  doubtless  exaggerated  in  the  account  long  accepted 
of  St.  Real,  nevertheless  constituted  a  grave  menace   to    the  inde- 


LAST     OF     ITALIAN     LIBERTY  315 

1618 

pendence  of  Venice.  At  the  time  we  are  now  treating  of,  the  am- 
bassador of  Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain,  in  Venice,  was  the  Marquis 
of  Bedmar,  a  crafty  and  unprincipled  man.  The  Governor  of  Milan 
and  the  Viceroy  of  Naples  agreed  with  the  said  Bedmar  in  the 
eager  desire  to  humiliate  Venice,  and  bring  it  into  subjection  to  the 
Spanish  crown.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Republic  possessed  a  vast 
number  of  well-armed  ships,  Bedmar  resolved  to  execute  his  design 
without  the  King  of  Spain  appearing  to  have  any  knowledge  of  it, 
and  by  the  use  of  measures  as  secret  as  they  were  dangerous,  re- 
lying on  a  Frenchman,  Renault,  as  his  agent.  They  proposed  to  set 
the  city  on  fire,  to  kill  the  senators  and  the  Council  of  Ten,  who 
were  at  the  head  of  the  government,  and  to  deluge  the  shores  of  the 
Adriatic  with  blood.  In  the  meantime,  aided  by  the  darkness  of  the 
night  and  the  tumult  occasioned  by  some  Spanish  soldiers  whom 
the  ambassador  was  to  introduce  in  disguise,  they  hoped  to  make 
themselves  masters  of  the  palace  of  the  doge  and  the  arsenal,  while 
the  other  conspirators,  who  served  in  the  Venetian  fleet,  and  whom 
Renault  had  suborned,  would  kill  the  captains  with  their  daggers 
and  force  the  sailors  to  set  fire  to  the  ships. 

Everything  was  ready  and  the  night  fixed  in  which  the  plot 
was  to  be  put  into  execution.  Renault  had  arranged  all  the  plans 
with  so  much  mystery  and  so  great  art  that  the  most  zealous  agents 
of  police  had  not  the  least  suspicion  of  it.  The  day  preceding  that 
fatal  night,  Renault,  the  better  to  strengthen  his  men  in  their  reso- 
lutions, assembled  the  heads  in  a  house  apart,  in  order  to  assign  to 
everyone  the  post  he  was  to  take  at  the  decisive  moment.  One 
should  force  the  gates  of  the  doge's  palace,  another  should  dis- 
tribute arms  to  the  prisoners,  a  third  should  set  fire  to  the  arsenal 
so  as  to  throw  terror  over  the  city,  while  a  number  should  sud- 
denly assail  the  senators,  the  Council  of  Ten,  and  the  inquisitors  in 
their  respective  palaces,  and  slay  the  nobles  before  they  knew  by 
whose  hand  they  had  perished.  While  this  was  going  on  others 
were  to  be  sent  into  the  most  populous  quarters  of  the  city  to  excite 
the  mob  to  plunder,  and  thus  augment  the  confusion  by  all  possible 
means. 

But  among  the  conspirators  whom  Renault  believed  to  be 
equally  faithful  and  devoted  was  a  Frenchman  named  Giafieri,  who 
resolved  to  go  to  the  Council  of  Ten  and  reveal  the  danger  which 
hung  over  the  city.  He  only  wished  to  stipulate  that  his  betrayal 
should  not  involve  his  own  friends  in  ruin,  and  extorted  the  prom- 


;,H)  ITALY 

1618 

ise  before  revealing  his  secret  that  the  lives  of  twenty  persons. 
whom  he  should  select,  should  be  spared,  however  culpable  they 
might  be.  The  magistrates  agreed  to  the  whole,  but  no  sooner  was 
the  plot  made  known  than  they  put  Giafieri  in  prison  and  sent  to 
arrest  Renault  and  his  accomplices  before  they  should  have  any 
suspicion  of  being  discovered. 

Some  of  the  conspirators,  however,  were  warned  in  time,  and 
escaped  by  throwing  themselves  into  the  fishermen's  boats ;  Renault, 
however,  would  not  take  to  flight,  but  gave  himself  up  into  the 
hands  of  the  men  who  came  to  seize  him.  At  the  same  time  all  sus- 
pected foreigners  who  were  concealed  in  various  parts  of  the  city 
were  disarmed,  imprisoned,  and  at  once  strangled,  drowned,  or  be- 
headed. Renault,  the  promoter  of  the  whole  scheme,  was  strangled 
in  prison,  and  his  body  hung  up  before  the  palace  of  the  doge  to 
strike  terror  into  all  the  rest. 

Giafieri,  seeing  his  companions  put  to  death  before  his  own 
eyes,  refused  to  receive  any  recompense,  and  went  and  united  him- 
self with  the  other  conspirators,  fighting  at  their  head  until  he  was 
struck  down  in  the  conflict. 

Bedmar,  the  real  author  of  the  rebellion,  protected  by  his  dig- 
nity of  ambassador,  was  thus  able  to  leave  the  city  freely  and  return 
to  his  own  country  in  1618.  Thus  was  Venice  liberated  from  three 
misfortunes — the  interdict  of  the  Pope,  the  scourge  of  the  Uscocchi, 
and  above  all  from  the  plot  of  Bedmar,  by  which  the  city  was  ex- 
posed to  a  greater  danger  than  had  ever  happened  since  the  signing 
of  the  Treaty  of  Cambrai  (1508).  Hereafter  we  find  scarcely  any 
material  or  moral  prosperity  to  console  Italy  for  its  loss  of  freedom 
and  for  its  sterile  agitations.  Venice  ceased  to  be  even  the  Queen 
of  the  Adriatic,  and  except  for  occasional  gleams  of  better  things 
at  Florence,  the  peninsula  presents  a  sad  spectacle. 


Chapter    XLI 

CHARLES    EMMANUEL   THE   GREAT   AND    SOME 
MEN   OF  THE  AGE.     1 580-1 700 

DUKE  EMMANUEL  PHILIBERT,  hero  of  St.  Quentin, 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  named  Charles  Emmanuel,  sur- 
named  the  Great,  in  consequence  of  the  length  of  his 
reign  (which  lasted  fifty  years),  and  of  the  great  things  which  he 
achieved,  both  in  peace  and  in  war.  He  was  only  seventeen  years 
old  when  he  began  to  reign,  but  fortunately  he  had  good  ministers 
and  advisers,  whose  sagacity  and  prudence  contributed  greatly  to 
the  success  of  his  enterprises  (1 580-1630). 

He  had  first  to  wage  a  long  and  bloody  war  with  the  French. 
These  had  a  few  years  before  made  themselves  masters  of  the  mar- 
quisate  of  Saluzzo,  and  now  that  France  was  agitated  by  the  im- 
pending war  with  the  Huguenots,  he  thought  it  a  good  opportunity 
to  regain  that  part  of  his  dominions  of  which  his  father  had  been 
despoiled.  The  King  of  France  (Henry  III.)  would  not  respond 
to  the  just  demands  of  the  duke,  who  accordingly  determined  to 
gain  by  arms  what  he  could  not  gain  by  treaty.  A  long  and  san- 
guinary war  ensued,  which  ended  by  leaving  Charles  Emmanuel  in 
tranquil  possession  of  Saluzzo.  This  was  arranged  in  a  treaty  con- 
cluded at  Paris  in  the  year  1601,  by  which  the  duke  yielded  some 
portion  of  his  territory  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps.  This  treaty 
was  very  advantageous  to  the  house  of  Savoy ;  and  the  general  of 
the  King  of  France,  called  Ladighera,  is  said  to  have  remarked 
that  the  King  of  France  had  treated  like  a  merchant,  while  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  had  done  so  like  a  sovereign.  The  reason  was  that 
the  territory  of  Saluzzo,  besides  being  extremely  fertile,  com- 
manded also  the  passage  over  the  Alps  by  which  the  French  had 
been  accustomed  to  pass  into  Italy.  When  these  wars  were  over 
Charles  Emmanuel  began  to  be  involved  in  other  kinds  of  diffi- 
culties with  the  Waldenses.  These  were  followers  of  Peter  Waldo, 
a  merchant  of  Lyons,  who,  leaving  his  commercial  affairs,  began  to 

317 


318  ITALY 

1580-1628 

advocate  zealously  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  Being  driven 
out  of  Lyons,  the  Waldenses  went  to  establish  themselves  in  the 
valley  of  Luserna,  near  Pinerolo.  Here  they  were  lost  sight 
of  for  some  time,  and  had  leisure  to  build  places  of  worship 
for  themselves,  the  first  of  which  was  erected  in  the  valley  of 
Angrogna. 

But  in  process  of  time,  when  the  numbers  of  the  sect  increased, 
they  began  to  be  subjected  to  cruel  persecutions,  so  that  they  were 
forced  to  take  up  arms  in  self-defense.  Duke  Emmanuel  Philibert 
had  before  sent  an  army  to  put  them  down,  and  had  caused  much 
bloodshed,  and  now  Charles  Emmanuel  also  appealed  to  force,  and 
endeavored  to  drive  them  away  from  his  states.  By  the  decree  of 
1602,  however,  he  at  length  defined  the  limits  of  their  abode,  and 
forbade  them  under  heavy  penalties  to  pass  beyond. 

These  affairs  being  now  settled,  Charles  began  to  wage  war  in 
foreign  countries.  He  fought  first  as  an  ally  of  the  King  of  France, 
then  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  signalized  himself  in  each  case  by 
his  valor  and  feats  of  arms.  He  next  planned  to  take  Lombardy 
from  the  Spaniards,  and  for  this  purpose  joined  Henry  IV.,  King 
of  France.  But  just  as  the  armies  were  about  to  march,  Henry  was 
murdered,  whereupon  Venice  interposed  between  the  two  hostile 
powers,  and  peace  was  concluded. 

Francesco  Gonzaga,  Duke  of  Mantua  and  Montferrat,  having 
lately  died,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  laid  claim  to  the  latter  province  by 
virtue  of  blood  affinity,  but  after  two  years  of  useless  negotiations 
the  duke  made  open  war  to  effect  his  purpose,  and  before  his  rivals 
had  time  to  raise  any  opposition  he  made  himself  master  of  the  ter- 
ritory of  Montferrat,  with  exception  of  Casale  and  Ponte-Stura. 
The  King  of  Spain,  who  wished  to  be  considered  the  arbiter  in 
Italy,  because  he  possessed  so  many  of  the  provinces,  laid  claim 
to  Montferrat.  The  Spaniards,  thinking  the  matter  of  little  im- 
portance, entered  with  light  heart  into  the  contest  with  the  Duke 
of  Savoy ;  but  when  they  saw  their  soldiers  put  to  flight  and  fall  in 
great  numbers  on  the  field  of  battle,  they  knew  that  they  had  to  do 
with  a  most  formidable  rival.  They  got  together,  accordingly,  so 
large  a  force  of  infantry  and  cavalry  that  it  seemed  as  though  the 
whole  of  Spain  was  going  to  precipitate  itself  upon  Montferrat. 
But  Charles  Emmanuel,  who  had  so  often  led  his  soldiers  to  victory 
in  foreign  countries,  did  not  shrink  for  a  moment  from  maintaining 
his  own  cause  in  this  particular  instance.    Five  battles  were  fought, 


p      —     -^ 


CHARLES     EMMANUEL  319 

1628-1637 

in  each  of  which  the  duke  came  off  victorious,  and  after  having  al- 
most entirely  destroyed  the  Spanish  army,  he  united  Montferrat 
definitely  to  Piedmont.  These  glorious  victories  of  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  excited  envy  in  the  minds  of  the  French  under  Richelieu, 
who  accordingly  determined  to  try  the  fortune  of  battle  with  the 
purpose  of  conquering  Montferrat.  They  marched  with  a  numer- 
ous army  to  attack  the  duke  just  at  the  moment  when  he  thought 
he  had  concluded  with  them  a  permanent  peace,  and  being  thus 
taken  unawares,  was  forced  to  retire  from  Montferrat.  A  battle 
was  fought  at  Rivoli,  in  which  he  was  again  worsted.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  the  duke  would  have  repaired  his  losses  if  a  terrible 
pestilence  had  not  just  then  broken  out,  which  ravaged  both  France 
and  Italy.  The  duke  himself  was  at  length  struck  down  by  the 
disease,  and  died  at  Savigliano  in  the  year  1630.  He  died,  leaving 
his  duchy  a  prey  to  pestilence  and  war,  but  also  consoled  with  the 
thought  of  having  given  his  life  to  defend  his  states,  and  with  the 
glory  of  having  ever  labored  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects.  He 
was  accustomed  to  say,  "  The  brightest  prerogatives  of  a  prince  are 
to  give  and  to  forgive." 

Victor  Amadeus  now  succeeded  to  the  duchy.  In  the  midst  of 
so  many  evils,  caused  by  pestilence  and  war,  a  truce  was  necessary, 
so  that  the  people  might  recover  their  strength,  resume  the  cultiva- 
tion of  their  fields,  and  replenish  their  treasury.  For  this  purpose 
the  French,  the  Spanish,  and  the  principal  Italian  princes  held 
an  assembly  in  Cherasco,  and  concluded  a  treaty  by  virtue  of 
which  Italy  was  enabled  to  breathe  again,  and  provide  for  its  own 
safety. 

Victor  Amadeus  having  now  brought  the  internal  affairs  of  his 
country  into  order,  was  urged  by  Richelieu  to  form  an  alliance  with 
France.  These  two  powers  in  unison  then  made  war  upon  Spain, 
and  a  sanguinary  battle  was  fought  on  the  borders  of  Montferrat 
in  which  the  victory  declared  for  the  allies.  But  soon  after  the 
battle  Victor  Amadeus  died. 

In  the  midst  of  the  wars  and  the  pestilence  which  afflicted 
Piedmont  and  the  other  provinces  of  Italy,  several  illustrious  per- 
sons flourished,  who  attained  a  high  degree  of  renown  in  science, 
letters,  and  art.  We  must  first  mention  an  illustrious  poet  named 
Ariosto,  born  in  the  city  of  Reggio.  From  a  child  Ariosto  was 
studious,  and  showed  at  an  early  age  a  remarkable  poetical  talent. 
Having  cultivated  this  talent  by  the  study  of  the  ancient  authors, 


320  ITALY 

1580-1590 

he  composed  a  poem  entitled  "  Orlando  Furioso,"  which  is  held  in 
high  esteem  to  the  present  day.  He  was  born  in  1474  and  died  in 
the  year  1532. 

Another  illustrious  poet  was  Torquato  Tasso,  celebrated  for 
his  poem  entitled  "  Gerusalemme  Liberata,"  in  which  he  portrays 
the  acts  of  courage  and  prowess  shown  by  the  crusaders  in  their 
efforts  to  take  the  Holy  City.  He  was  endowed  with  a  lofty  genius, 
but  had  one  great  defect  of  character,  that  of  not  being  able  to 
restrain  his  outbursts  of  anger.  In  consequence  of  this  he  was  once 
thrown  into  prison,  where  he  had  to  remain  many  years,  until  the 
Pope,  having  heard  of  his  misfortune,  persuaded  the  Duke  of 
Ferrara  to  set  him  at  liberty. 

The  literati  and  many  of  the  princes  of  Italy  then  voted  him  a 
crown  of  honor,  as  had  been  done  in  the  case  of  Petrarch.  For  this 
purpose  he  was  invited  to  Rome,  and  was  there  received  by  the 
Pope  with  great  solemnity.  Everything  was  prepared  for  this  great 
ceremony,  but  Providence  ordered  it  otherwise.  Feeling  himself 
grievously  ill,  he  begged  to  be  taken  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Onofrius,  where  he  expired  peaceably  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years, 
and  on  the  very  eve  of  his  destined  triumph.  Richly  clothed,  and 
his  hair  decked  with  laurels,  he  was  carried  in  solemn  pomp  through 
the  streets  of  Rome  to  the  sepulcher. 

Another  man  who  will  always  cast  a  halo  of  glory  over  Italy 
was  Galileo  Galilei.  He  was  a  native  of  Pisa  (born  in  1564),  and 
studied  music,  painting,  science,  letters,  and  more  especially  physics, 
with  great  success.  Ferdinand  I.,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  was  at 
that  time  a  great  promoter  of  science  and  literature.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  grand  dukes  was  for  the  most  part  mild.  Abstaining 
from  all  interference  with  their  neighbors,  they  managed  to  secure 
for  Tuscany  all  the  benefits  of  peace.  They  more  especially  pro- 
moted the  cultivation  of  science,  and  the  very  progress  which  Gali- 
leo made  in  scientific  discovery  was  in  great  part  owing  to  the  gen- 
erosity of  these  princes.  He  was  nominated  by  Ferdinand  I. 
professor  in  the  university  of  Pisa  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years. 

As  Galileo  was  one  day  standing  in  the  cathedral  and  observ- 
ing the  oscillation  of  a  lamp  suspended  there,  he  perceived  that  it 
oscillated  backward  and  forward  through  a  considerable  space, 
then  after  a  time  through  a  less  space,  and  finally  through  a  very 
small  space ;  but  in  every  instance  the  lamp  performed  its  oscilla- 
tions in  exactly  the  same  duration  of  time.     Returning  home,  he 


CHARLES     EMMANUEL  321 

1590-1633 

made  the  same  experiment  with  a  string  and  a  piece  of  lead,  con- 
structed in  the  form  of  a  pendulum.  On  making-  it  oscillate,  he 
again  found  that  the  varied  movements  were  always  completed  in 
equal  spaces  of  time.  From  this  circumstance  Galileo  concluded 
that  the  pendulum  would  prove  a  valuable  instrument  to  append  to 
a  clock  in  order  to  regulate  the  motion  of  the  wheels,  and  give  to 
give  them  a  regular  and  invariable  movement. 

He  next  went  as  professor  of  philosophy  to  Padua,  where 
he  invented  the  telescope.  With  this  instrument  he  began  to  make 
observations  on  the  moon,  and  was  the  first  to  see  that  the  spots 
which  we  see  with  our  naked  eye  on  the  lunar  disc  are  no  other 
than  valleys  and  mountains,  of  which  he  could  even  measure  the 
magnitude.  He  discovered  also  many  stars,  hitherto  unknown, 
and  was  the  first  to  declare  that  the  Milky  Way  is  a  space  studded 
with  stars  at  an  enormous  distance  from  the  earth.  The  fame  of 
Galileo's  genius  was  so  widely  extended  that  the  grand  duke  and 
the  Florentines  desired  him  to  return  to  his  own  country.  This 
he  accordingly  did,  and  the  grand  duke  assigned  him  five  thousand 
francs  a  year,  with  full  leisure  to  pursue  his  studies.  Galileo,  like 
Tasso,  was  a  man  of  irascible  temper,  but  knew  better  how  to  bridle 
his  tongue.  He  was  both  religious  and  charitable,  and  delighted 
in  instructing  young  men  if  only  they  would  devote  themselves  to 
study.  He  often  assisted  poor  scholars,  so  that  they  might  pursue 
their  course  of  learning,  and  was  on  their  part  regarded  as  a  father 
and  a  benefactor. 

The  most  remarkable  event  in  the  life  of  Galileo  was  the 
publication  of  a  book  on  the  motion  of  the  earth.  He  showed  that 
the  sun  did  not  move  round  the  earth,  as  was  then  generally  sup- 
posed, but  that  the  earth  moved  round  its  own  axis  every  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  completed  its  full  revolution  round  the  sun  in  a 
year.  This  theory  had  been  brought  forward  by  Copernicus  one 
hundred  years  before,  but  was  not  yet  fully  established.  But 
Galileo  had  now  such  abundant  evidence  in  his  hands  that  he  felt 
justified  in  affirming  that  this  was  the  thought  and  design  of  the 
Creator  in  framing  the  whole  solar  system.  The  Pope,  Paul  V., 
was  scandalized  at  a  philosopher  pronouncing  such  an  idea,  and 
bringing  it  forward  as  a  dogma  that  challenged  every  man's  belief. 
Galileo,  on  the  other  hand,  insisted  that  the  church  should  acknowl- 
edge a  truth  now  established  with  scientific  certitude. 

In    1633   he  was  summoned  to   Rome  to  appear  before  the 


(M2  I  T  A  L  Y 

1633-1640 

Inquisition,  which  condemned  him,  on  his  refusing  to  recant,  to 
perpetual  imprisonment,  a  sentence  somewhat  softened  owing  to 
the  intervention  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  Galileo  made  a 
kind  of  formal  recantation  to  save  himself  from  the  pains  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  inflicted  on  him,  but  according  to  a 
not  wholly  authentic  tradition  he  could  not  help  saying  as  he  left 
the  tribunal,  E  pare  si  muovc  ("The  earth  does  move,  though, 
after  all").  He  made  many  other  discoveries,  and  died  in  his 
seventy-eighth  year,  with  the  repute  of  being  a  wise  man  and  a 
good  Christian. 

After  the  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  and  still  more  after  the 
Treaty  of  Cherasco,  the  Spaniards  remained  masters  of  many  of  the 
Italian  states.  Lombardy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Naples,  were  all  gov- 
erned by  a  viceroy  of  the  King  of  Spain.  As  Spain  at  that  time 
figured  as  one  of  the  first  powers  in  Europe,  we  may  say  that  what 
with  its  own  dominions  in  Italy,  and  what  with  the  influence  it 
exerted  upon  the  other  states,  Italy  had  almost  become  Spanish ;  and, 
in  fact,  many  Spanish  customs  still  exist  in  Italy  which  have  come 
down  from  that  epoch.  For  one  hundred  and  forty  years,  i.  e.,  from 
1560  to  1700,  Italy  suffered  greatly  under  the  dominion  of  these 
foreign  rulers.  The  King  of  Spain,  indeed,  sent  able  men  to  govern 
the  Italian  provinces,  but  they  were  for  the  most  part  only  intent 
on  widening  their  dominion  and  acquiring  riches  to  send  to  Spain. 
Among  these  we  may  especially  mention  Leganez,  Governor  of 
Milan.  He  took  a  great  part  in  the  wars  which  agitated  Piedmont 
from  1630  to  1644,  for  he  had  been  sent  with  a  large  army  to 
Montferrat  to  conquer  these  countries  for  his  sovereign,  and  had 
closely  besieged  the  city  of  Casale. 

This  latter  city  belonged  to  Charles  Emmanuel  II.,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  whose  states  were  governed  during  his  minority  by  his 
mother,  Maria  Christina.  This  princess  had  the  grief  of  seeing 
her  own  brothers-in-law  make  alliance  with  the  Spanish ;  and  when 
she  found  herself  unable  to  resist  them,  she  made  a  treaty  with  the 
King  of  France,  by  virtue  of  which  she  ceded  to  him  Cherasco,  Sa- 
vigliano,  and  Carmagnola;  From  this  circumstance  her  brothers- 
in-law  took  occasion  to  excite  the  people  to  rebel  against  her 
authority,  and  she  was  forced  to  take  flight  from  Turin. 

The  King  of  France  sent  a  famous  general  named  Artour  with 
troops  to  assist  the  Piedmontese.  The  two  captains  made  first  trial 
of  their  valor  under  the  walls  of  Casale,  where  the  Spanish  suffered 


CHARLES     EMMANUEL  323 

1640-1646 

a  terrible  defeat.  After  the  battle  of  Casale,  Leganez  got  the  re- 
mains of  his  army  together,  and,  making  a  fresh  levy,  went  to 
besiege  Turin  (1640).  But  after  many  fruitless  efforts  to  make 
himself  master  of  the  capital,  he  gave  up  the  hope  of  conquering 
Piedmont  and  retired  with  his  army  to  Milan.  The  duchess  upon 
this  returned  to  Turin  and  got  back  many  of  the  cities  which  had 
been  wrested  from  her  hands.  On  her  regency  coming  to  a  termina- 
tion she  consigned  the  reigns  of  government  into  the  hands  of  her 
son,  Charles  Emmanuel  II. 

This  prince's  first  effort  was  to  allay  a  rebellion  which  the 
Waldenses  had  excited  against  him,  and  then  soon  after  he  had  to 
carry  on  war  for  a  time  against  the  Genoese.  After  this  he  enjoyed 
perfect  peace  during  the  whole  of  his  reign,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  prosperity  of  his  people,  reorganizing  the  army,  constructing 
roads,  and  completing  many  magnificent  works. 

The  condition  of  Piedmont  was  bad  enough  while  the  country 
was  occupied  by  French  or  Spanish  armies, .  but  the  situation  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  was  still  worse,  in  consequence  of  the  greed  of  the 
viceroys  and  their  eagerness  to  send  money  into  Spain.  The  sums 
wrested  from  the  kingdom  of  Naples  alone  amounted  in  a  few  years 
to  over  500,000,000  of  francs.  To  accumulate  these  sums,  heavy 
imposts  were  indispensable.  Houses,  fields,  furniture,  persons, 
animals  of  every  kind,  and  all  comestibles  were  so  weighed  down 
with  taxes  that  well-nigh  the  whole  produce  of  the  land  came  into 
the  hands  of  the  tax-gatherers.  In  those  times  many  families,  not 
being  able  to  procure  for  themselves  the  necessaries  of  life,  left  their 
native  country  to  seek  hospitality  on  a  foreign  shore.  Thus  the 
population  of  Naples  was  reduced  so  that  many  tracts  of  country 
remained  uncultivated  for  want  of  hands,  and  commerce  was  de- 
prived of  all  enterprise.  The  discontent  became  universal,  and  it 
only  needed  a  head  for  an  open  rebellion  to  break  out. 

A  certain  Alexis  of  Palermo,  a  goldbeater  by  profession,  at- 
tempted to  throw  off  the  heavy  yoke,  and  had  got  the  people  and  the 
nobles  to  proclaim  him  first  captain  and  King  of  Sicily.  But  he 
was  surprised  by  the  Spanish,  and  executed  along  with  his  accom- 
plices. Uproars  took  place  in  Naples  which  could  not  be  so  easily 
appeased,  and  which  drew  after  them  fatal  consequences.  The 
Viceroy  of  Naples,  Count  Arcos,  nominated  viceroy  in  1646,  a  most 
avaricious  man,  not  knowing  what  other  tax  to  levy,  laid  a  particular 
duty  upon  fruit,  which  is  there  the  chief  food  of  the  poor  people.   A 


324  ITALY 

1646-1647 

certain  Thomas  Aniello  of  Amalfi,  commonly  called  Masaniello,1  a 
fisherman,  not  being  able  to  live  by  his  trade,  had  come  to  establish 
himself  as  a  fruit  seller  in  Naples.  He  and  all  his  companions  of  the 
piazza  remained  thunderstruck  at  the  new  imposts.  Discontent  in- 
creased more  and  more  in  consequence  of  the  rigor  and  the  villainous 
methods  with  which  the  tax-gatherers  made  their  exactions.  On 
Sunday  morning,  July  7,  1647,  a  tumult  arose  in  the  piazza,  and 
this  was  the  spark  which  lighted  up  the  fire  of  rebellion.  Cries 
resounded  from  every  side,  and  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  all 
gathered  around  Masaniello.  He  was  a  handsome  young  fellow, — 
brave,  moreover, — and  so  strong  that  he  could  knock  down  the  most 
powerful  man  with  his  fist.  The  tax-gatherers  ran  to  put  down  the 
tumult,  but  were  received  with  blows  and  forced  to  retire.  A  com- 
pany of  soldiers  was  then  called  up,  but  too  late,  because  the  number 
of  the  insurgents  had  become  enormous,  and  on  every  side  they 
proclaimed  Masaniello  their  leader,  and  having  driven  off  the  sol- 
diers, now  took  possession  of  the  whole  city.  This  Masaniello  was 
without  learning  or  any  knowledge  either  of  warfare  or  govern- 
ment; yet  by  his  probity,  his  disinterestedness,  and  his  desire  to 
behave  well  toward  all,  he  was  led  to  act  the  part  of  a  chief,  and  to 
manage  with  marvelous  tact  the  most  weighty  affairs. 

The  viceroy  attempted  to  put  down  Masaniello  by  force,  but 
seeing  every  effort  to  be  useless,  he  thought  it  best  to  come  to  an 
agreement  with  him.  Constituting  him  captain-general  of  Naples, 
he  promised  the  abolition  of  all  the  imposts,  offered  him  a  rich  collar 
of  gold  and  a  handsome  pension.  Masaniello,  distrusting  the  good 
faith  of  the  viceroy,  refused  all  these  offers,  and  continued  to  main- 
tain his  place  as  defender  of  the  people ;  but  in  consequence  of  the 
honors  done  to  him  by  the  king,  who  to  a  certain  degree  yielded  to 
his  will,  and  of  the  universal  applause  of  the  people,  he  was  so  elated 
with  pride  that  he  forgot  his  natural  modesty,  and  in  place  of  con- 
tinuing to  be  the  benefactor  of  his  country,  he  at  once  opposed  the 
king  and  despised  his  former  companions.  All  this  rendered  him 
hateful  in  the  eyes  of  all  true  patriots,  and  some  of  the  most  daring, 
urged  on  by  the  promise  of  a  rich  reward  on  the  part  of  the  viceroy, 
stabbed  him  with  their  poniards. 

Upon  this  Naples  fell  into  general  confusion,  some  taking  part 
with  the  king,  some  with  Masaniello.     The  citizens  no  longer  knew 

1  See   J.    Zeller,    "  Les    Tribuns   et   les   Revolutions   en   Italic,"    Paris.    1874. 
chapter  on  "  Masaniello." 


CHARLES     EMMANUEL  325 

1647-1700 

whom  to  obey,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  a  republic  was  pro- 
claimed. Meantime  several  other  leaders  of  the  people  sought  to 
take  the  place  of  Masaniello,  until  some  malcontents  called  in  the 
assistance  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  a  celebrated  French  captain,  de- 
scendant of  Charles  of  Anjou,  sent  by  Cardinal  Mazarin  to  embar- 
rass Spain.  He  soon  made  his  appearance,  and  was  already  virtually 
master  of  the  city,  when  a  powerful  Spanish  army  arrived,  which 
entered  Naples  and  took  complete  possession  of  it.  Many  of  the 
citizens,  abhorring  a  foreign  yoke,  obstinately  refused  to  submit, 
and  were  either  put  to  death  or  driven  into  banishment.  Thus  the 
rebellion  of  Masaniello  in  the  end  produced  nothing  but  bloodshed, 
tyranny,  death,  and  exile. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  events  Genoa  was  subjected  to  a 
grievous  misfortune.  The  King  of  France,  Louis  XIV.,  vexed  that 
this  republic  should  show  greater  friendship  to  Spain  than  to  him- 
self, sent  a  general  named  Duquesne  at  the  head  of  a  large  fleet  to 
order  four  of  their  galleys,  lately  put  to  sea,  to  be  disarmed.  The 
Genoese  would  not  respond  to  this  demand,  and  the  hostile  fleet  com- 
menced a  bombardment  which  lasted  several  days  without  inter- 
mission. After  they  had  thus  reduced  the  city  well-nigh  to  ruins,  it 
was  obliged  to  give  in,  and  accept  the  rule  of  the  French  with  many 
hard  conditions. 

While  the  events  above  related  were  taking  place  in  different 
parts  of  Italy,  Venice  had  to  sustain  assaults  which  only  redounded 
to  its  glory.  For  some  years  past  the  Turks  had  attempted  to  take 
the  Island  of  Candia  out  of  their  hands.  The  Venetians  resisted, 
and,  fighting  under  good  leaders,  gained  several  victories.  But  the 
Turks  having  greatly  augmented  their  forces,  the  Venetians  were 
obliged  to  yield  the  island  to  the  enemy,  notwithstanding  that  they 
received  aid  from  various  powers  of  Europe.  Fifteen  years  after, 
hostilities  having  been  renewed,  Francesco  Morosini  made  himself 
master  of  Athens  and  the  Morea,  in  1687,  which  Venice  held  till 
1 71 8,  when  the  Turks  again  regained  them.  But  having  been  cre- 
ated doge,  and  having  returned  to  Greece  to  renew  the  struggle,  he 
unfortunately  lost  his  life  (1694). 


Chapter  XLII 

VICTOR  AMADEUS  AND  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE 
ITALIAN  KINGDOM.     1 630-1 748 

A  FTER  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  which  terminated  a  long 
/—\  war  in  1659,  France  and  Spain  stood  for  some  years  in 
X  JL  friendly  relation  to  each  other.  But  each  of  these  nations 
possessed  certain  lands  in  Piedmont,  and  the  French,  wishing  to 
have  possessions  in  other  parts  of  Italy  also,  always  attempted  to 
thwart  the  Spaniards,  and  came  to  the  aid  of  Piedmont  whenever 
it  was  attacked  by  them.  In  the  midst  of  these  events  the  King  of 
France,  Louis  XIV.,  following  evil  counsels,  determined  to  drive  all 
the  Protestants  out  of  the  country,  and  applied  to  Victor  Amadeus 
to  induce  him  to  follow  the  same  course.  Amadeus,  though  not 
openly  refusing  to  do  so,  yet  took  his  measures  in  so  half-hearted  a 
manner  that  the  king  was  greatly  offended,  and  sought  an  occasion 
of  declaring  war  against  him. 

The  Duke  of  Savoy  was  a  good  prince,  and  aimed  in  every- 
thing at  the  good  of  his  people,  by  whom  in  turn  he  was  greatly  be- 
loved. Nevertheless  he  could  not  hinder  the  French  from  invading 
his  states  and  doing  immense  damage,  being  badly  defeated  by  the 
French  General  Catinat  at  Staffarde  in  1690  and  again  at  Marsaglia 
in  1693.  All  Italy  was  involved  in  this  war  of  the  League  of 
Augsburg,  1 689- 1 697,  which  comprised  the  chief  powers  of  Europe. 
It  is  related  that,  gazing  from  Turin  upon  the  castle  of  Rivoli,  re- 
duced to  ashes  by  the  French,  Victor  Amadeus  exclaimed :  "  Would 
to  heaven  that  every  one  of  my  palaces  were  burned,  provided  the 
cottages  of  my  peasants  were  safe !  "  On  another  occasion  some 
peasants,  whose  houses  had  been  burned  by  the  French,  came  to  him, 
and  casting  themselves  at  his  feet,  related  to  him  all  their  misfor- 
tunes. Victor  distributed  all  the  money  he  had  in  his  possession, 
and  taking  from  his  neck  a  collar  studded  with  gems,  tore  it  in 
pieces  and  distributed  it  to  the  poor  husbandmen.  The  duke,  see- 
ing the  wretched  condition  of  Piedmont,  signed  a  peace  with  Louis 
XIV.  in  1696,  which  by  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick  in  1697  became  a 
general  pacification. 

326 


FOUNDING     OF     KINGDOM  327 

1697-1704 

But  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  King  of  Spain,  came  to  disturb 
the  tranquillity  of  Europe.  That  king  had  bequeathed  his  throne  to 
a  French  prince  named  Philip,  grandson  of  the  King  of  France. 
Louis  XIV.  accepted  the  will  and  placed  Philip  in  possession  of  the 
throne.  But  Leopold  I.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  being  related  to  the 
late  king,  also  laid  claim  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  and  even  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  put  in  some  right  to  the  same  crown.  On  this  ground  he 
entered  into  a  league  with  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  as  being  the 
strongest,  and  at  the  same  time  the  one  who  made  him  the  largest 
promises.  In  1701  a  war  broke  out,  which  was  called  the  War  of 
Succession  of  Spain,  because  it  originated  in  the  pretension  of  dif- 
ferent monarchs  to  the  throne  of  that  country. 

On  this  there  followed  a  complete  perturbation  through  all 
Europe.  On  the  one  side  stood  France,  Spain,  and  that  part  of  Italy 
which  belonged  to  Spain.  On  the  other  side  was  Germany,  Eng- 
land, Portugal,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  together  with  the  other 
princes  of  Germany.  To  recount  the  history  of  this  war  would 
take  us  too  far  from  our  purpose,  which  aims  only  at  giving  the  most 
important  events  in  the  history  of  Italy.  But  now  when  it  was 
known  that  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  joined  himself  to  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  a  numerous  army,  composed  of  French  and  Spaniards, 
attacked  his  states.  Victor  Amadeus  put  the  whole  country  on  a 
war  footing,  and  prepared  a  resolute  resistance.  But  he  could  not 
prevent  Savoy,  Nice,  Susa,  Aosta,  Ivrea.  and  Vercelli  from  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  They  encountered,  however,  a  stout 
resistance  at  the  fortress  of  Verrua,  which  repelled  the  attacks 
of  the  enemy  for  six  months,  and  then  only  surrendered  from  the 
failure  of  food  and  ammunition  (1704).  The  fortress  of  Verrua, 
however,  being  at  length  taken,  the  enemy  turned  his  steps 
toward  Turin. 

Victor  Amadeus  had  concentrated  his  forces  in  the  capital, 
which  he  had  already  well  supplied  with  the  munitions  of  war. 
The  besiegers  numbered  above  60,000  men,  and  were  provided 
with  all  the  instruments  of  destruction  then  in  use.  To  prosecute 
the  siege  with  certainty  of  success,  they  had  surrounded  the  citadel 
with  two  trenches,  one  of  which  served  to  defend  them  from  the 
attacks  of  the  besieged,  the  other  to  keep  off  any  allies  that  might 
wish  to  bring  aid  to  them.  They  labored  silently  week  after  week 
at  these  trenches,  getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  fortifications. 
Then,  as  soon  as  they  were  sufficiently  advanced,  they  attempted  to 


J3S28  I  T  A  L  Y 

1704-1705 

make  a  fierce  assault,  accompanied  with  powerful  artillery  and  the 
explosion  of  mines.  The  besieged,  however,  did  not  lose  heart  at 
these  terrible  attacks.  There  were  in  the  city  8500  Piedmontese 
soldiers  and  1500  Germans.  A  renowned  engineer  named  Bertola 
superintended  the  works  for  the  defense,  and  Count  Solaro  directed 
the  artillery.  At  this  critical  moment  four  hundred  persons  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes  labored  to  bring  earth  and  faggots  to  the  walls. 
All  the  citizens  became  soldiers,  and  all  were  prepared  for  a  des- 
perate resistance.  Large  receptacles  of  water  were  placed  here  and 
there  to  put  out  the  fires;  the  pavement  in  the  roads  was  torn  up, 
and  the  houses  were  bridged  over  and  covered  with  earth,  in  order 
to  sustain  the  bombardment. 

Duke  Victor,  when  he  saw  the  immense  superiority  of  the  en- 
emy, and  that  they  had  invested  the  city  and  the  citadel  on  the  side 
of  the  gate  of  Susa,  resolved  to  leave  Turin,  in  order  to  solicit  aid,  to 
get  together  all  the  soldiers  he  possibly  could,  and  thus  to  surprise 
the  enemy  while  intent  on  the  siege.  He  arranged  everything 
before  his  departure,  encouraged  all  to  stand  firm  and  obey  his 
orders,  and  went  off  with  a  small  company  of  brave  follow- 
ers. With  these  he  hovered  round,  attacking  the  French  here  and 
there,  and  skillfully  eluding  their  attempts  to  surprise  and  capture 
him. 

Still,  in  spite  of  the  activity  and  circumspection  of  the  duke,  and 
the  courage  of  the  besieged,  things  had  arrived  at  a  lamentable  pass. 
Many  of  the  houses  were  leveled  to  the  ground,  many  of  the  citizens 
had  already  perished,  the  munitions  of  war  began  to  fail,  and  famine 
was  staring  them  in  the  face.  The  sole  hope  of  the  citizens  and  of 
the  duke  rested  on  the  expectation  that  his  cousin  Eugene,  a  prince 
of  great  valor,  would  come  to  his  succor  at  the  head  of  a  German 
army.  Prince  Eugene  had  in  early  life  become  a  priest.  The  read- 
ing of  the  history  of  the  wars  of  antiquity  inflamed  his  mind  with 
the  love  of  military  glory,  and  for  this  purpose  he  presented  himself 
to  the  King  of  France,  Louis  XIV.,  begging  to  have  the  command  of 
a  regiment.  The  king  smiled  at  the  request,  and  calling  him  "  the 
good  little  abbot,"  sent  him  away,  "to  read  his  breviary."  Eugene, 
deeply  offended,  went  away,  and  took  service  with  Austria  as  a 
simple  volunteer.  There  he  made  such  rapid  progress  that,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-four,  he  was  appointed  general  at  the  head  of  an  army 
which  was  to  march  against  the  Turks.  The  old  soldiers,  seeing 
him  small  of  stature,  and  dressed  in  a  simple  tunic  without  any  other 


FOUNDING     OF     KINGDOM  329 

1705-1706 

trimming  than  metal  buttons,  said  to  one  another,  "  This  little 
capuchin  will  not  pull  many  hairs  out  of  the  Turks'  beards."  But 
after  he  had  gained  a  great  battle,  fought  near  the  city  of  Zeuta,  they 
began  to  love  him  as  a  father,  and  believed  themselves  to  be  in- 
vincible when  under  his  leadership. 

The  King  of  France  repented  too  late  of  his  refusal,  and  to 
induce  him  to  come  under  his  banner  offered  to  make  him  a  marshal, 
with  the  governorship  of  Champagne.  But  Eugene,  who  had  a 
generous  nature,  would  not  be  induced  to  betray  his  sovereign  or 
pass  over  to  the  enemy,  and  consequently  he  remained  from  that 
time  faithful  to  the  house  of  Austria.  Whether  it  was  to  revenge 
the  affront  which  he  had  received  from  the  King  of  France,  or 
whether  it  was  from  a  desire  to  assist  his  cousin  Victor  Amadeus, 
at  the  appeal  made  to  him  he  hastened  by  forced  marches  to  Turin. 
The  King  of  France  sent  to  oppose  him,  first  a  general  named  Cati- 
nat,  then  another  named  Villeroi,  and  finally  the  Duke  of  Vendome 
— all  three  reputed  to  be  the  most  valiant  generals  of  their  time. 
Eugene  engaged  and  conquered  them  in  three  separate  battles — one 
on  the  Adige,  another  on  the  Mincio,  and  the  third  on  the  Po. 
Having  accomplished  these  victories,  he  then  marched  rapidly  upon 
Turin.  Victor  went  out  to  join  him  at  Carmagnola  with  6000 
horse  and  1000  infantry.  They  met  for  a  parley  in  a  meadow  near 
that  city  in  the  presence  of  all  the  soldiers.  Hearing  from  there 
the  continued  roar  of  the  artillery  which  was  directed  against  Turin, 
and  thinking  sadly  of  the  straits  to  which  the  defenders  were  re- 
duced, they  took  all  the  necessary  steps  to  meet  so  formidable  a  foe. 
The  duke  went  in  company  with  Prince  Eugene  to  head  the  forces, 
passed  the  Po,  and,  making  a  wide  turn  toward  Dora,  managed  to 
take  the  French  in  the  rear. 

While  these  things  were  passing  the  citadel  was  on  the  point 
of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  besiegers,  and  already  a  host  of  the 
enemy  had  succeeded  during  the  night  in  opening  a  passage  through 
the  fosse  of  the  citadel  without  being  observed  or  seen.  Gradually 
they  approached  the  gate  of  a  subterranean  passage,  which  gave  en- 
trance into  the  middle  of  the  citadel.  Not  a  single  soldier  was 
there,  but  only  a  single  miner  by  name  Peter  Micca,  who  stood  at 
his  post  with  an  officer  preparing  to  spring  a  mine.  Not  being  able 
to  resist  the  entrance  of  the  enemy,  he  determined  in  his  heart  to 
perform  a  most  magnanimous  action.  The  mine  was  already  laid, 
and  he  determined  to  fire  it,  although  the  apparatus  which  would 


iMO  I  T  A  L  Y 

1706-1714 

enable  the  miner  to  escape  to  a  place  of  safety  was  not  yet  attached. 
But  Peter,  regarding  it  as  a  case  in  which  he  ought  to  sacrifice 
his  life  for  his  country,  recommended  his  family  to  the  protection 
of  the  officer,  and  begged  him  to  run  and  save  himself.  "  I  give 
my  life,"  said  he,  "  with  the  hope  of  saving  my  country."  Taking 
hold  then  of  a  match,  he  fired  the  mine,  and  remained  buried  in  the 
ruins  together  with  the  French  grenadiers.  This  happened  on  the 
night  of  August  29,  1706. 

On  the  morning  of  September  7,  Eugene  and  Victor  assailed 
the  French,  who  on  their  side  fought  with  prodigious  bravery. 
Notwithstanding  their  immense  numbers,  however,  and  that  the 
places  near  to  the  city  and  the  citadel  were  already  taken,  they 
were  compelled  to  a  hand-to-hand  encounter.  The  besieged,  see- 
ing that  assistance  had  already  reached  them,  made  a  sortie,  and 
joining  themselves  with  their  allies,  completely  defeated  the 
French.  The  duke  and  the  brave  Prince  Eugene  entered  the  city 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  and  proceeded  to  the  cathe- 
dral, where  a  solemn  Te  Daim  was  sung  as  thanksgiving  for  the 
victory  achieved.  Thus  the  French  were  driven  out  of  the  country, 
and  Piedmont  rose  anew  from  its  ruins.  The  duke  established 
September  8  as  a  yearly  day  of  thanksgiving,  and  built  the  mag- 
nificent temple  at  Superga. 

After  the  battle  of  Turin  the  dissensions  arising  out  of  the 
Spanish  succession  lasted  seven  years  longer,  but  had  no  effect  upon 
Italy.  At  length  the  nations  of  Europe,  being  weary  of  the  horrors 
of  war,  held  a  congress  at  Utrecht,  when  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
sketched  out,  which  was  afterward  agreed  on  and  signed  in  Rastadt 
and  Baden  in  1713-1714.  By  virtue  of  this  treaty  the  kingdom  of 
Spain  was  conceded  to  Philip  V.,  grandson  of  the  King  of  France, 
while  Lombardy,  Naples,  and  Sardinia  were  united  to  the  empire 
of  Austria ;  the  whole  peninsula  became  virtually  Austrian. 

In  1714  the  Turks  declared  war  against  Venice.  But  Venice, 
largely  owing  to  the  irreparable  blows  to  her  commerce  as  a  result 
of  the  geographical  discoveries,  was  now  no  longer  the  flourishing 
and  formidable  power  which  it  had  been  in  past  ages.  In  the  times 
of  which  we  now  speak,  effeminacy  and  corruption  had  become  in- 
troduced among  the  citizens.  The  government,  instead  of  rousing 
up  the  people  to  arms  in  case  of  war,  preferred  to  call  in  foreign 
soldiers,  and  to  confide  the  command  of  them  to  strangers.  Just  as 
these  things  had  been  the  cause  of  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 


FOUNDING     OF     KINGDOM  331 

1714-1733 

so  was  it  also  with  this  republic.  The  Venetians,  feeling  themselves 
to  be  weak,  called  in  the  aid  of  the  Christian  powers,  even  before 
they  had  begun  to  suffer  any  discomforts.  Finally,  having  obtained 
aid  from  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  from  the  Pope,  from  TuScany,  and 
from  the  Knights  of  Malta,  they  were  enabled  to  confront  the  Turks, 
who  were  soon  constrained  to  beg  for  peace.  This  was  conceded  to 
them  on  condition  that  they  should  yield  up  the  Morea,  captured  at 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  And  thus  the  war  came  to  an 
end  in  171 8. 

The  victory  at  Turin  brought  peace  to  Piedmont,  and  we  may 
say,  indeed,  to  the  whole  of  Italy.  By  virtue  of  the  Treaty  of  Rastadt 
the  states  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  were  greatly  enlarged.  The  whole 
of  Montferrat,  Alessandria,  Valenza,  Lomellina,  the  valley  of  Sessia, 
and  all  that  the  French  possessed  on  that  side  of  the  Alps  were  added 
to  them.  By  virtue  of  the  same  treaty,  Sicily  *  was  also  ceded  to 
Victor  Amadeus,  with  the  title  of  king,  which  title  we  shall  now  give 
to  him  and  his  successors  in  the  subsequent  portion  of  our  history. 
Victor  Amadeus,  having  now  become  the  tranquil  possessor  of  these 
new  states,  occupied  himself  with  parental  solicitude  in  repairing  the 
losses  caused  by  long-continued  war,  and  took  many  useful  measures 
to  promote  the  arts  and  sciences.  He  established  anew  the  university 
in  Turin,  and  enlarged  the  cathedral.  He  reorganized  the  methods 
of  public  secondary  education,  and  confided  them  to  the  care  of  a 
body  of  learned  men,  which  was  called  the  Magistracy  of  Reforms. 
From  1 718  to  1730  he  devoted  his  energies  also  to  improving  the 
laws  and  administration  of  his  states,  having  a  tedious  quarrel  with 
the  Pope.  He  likewise  improved  the  finances  and  aided  agriculture 
and  sheep-raising.  By  insisting  on  the  equality  of  all  classes  before 
the  law  he  dealt  a  severe  blow  to  feudalism. 

As  a  sovereign  he  was  remarkable  for  his  valor  and  his  political 
sagacity.  Finally  he  abdicated  on  September  30,  1730,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  Emmanuel,  who  ruled  till  1773. 
Victor  had  firmly  laid  the  foundations  of  an  Italian  kingdom,  and 
his  work  was  to  have  an  important  effect  in  encouraging  a  national 
Italian  sentiment. 

About  this  time  two  illustrious  families  became  extinct  which 
for  many  years  had  held  authority  in  Italy — that  of  the  Medici  in 
Florence,  and  that  of  the  Farnesi,  which  for  a  long  period  had  held 
the  sovereignty  in  Parma  and  Piacenza.      Both  of  these  dukedoms 

1  Exchanged  with  Austria  in  1720  for  Sardinia,  also  with  the  royal  title. 


332  ITALY 

1733-1735 

passed  first  of  all  to  a  Spanish  prince  called  Don  Carlos;  but  on  his 
going  soon  after  to  take  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and 
Sicily  forming  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  a  Spanish  Bourbon 
secundogeniture,  Tuscany  came  under  the  power  of  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine.  This  duke  was  called  Francis,  and  by  his  marriage  with 
Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI.,  became  the 
ancestor  of  the  grand  dukes  who  governed  Tuscany  for  so  long  a 
period.2  The  government  of  Parma  and  Piacenza  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Philip,  brother  of  Don  Carlos  in  1735. 

Charles  Emmanuel  on  his  accession  to  the  throne  gave  his  spe- 
cial attention  to  the  reorganization  of  the  army.  He  founded 
schools  of  artillery,  completed  the  building  of  two  large  fortresses, 
one  at  Alessandria,  the  other  at  Brunetta;  he  built  the  arsenal  and 
greatly  ameliorated  the  condition  of  the  Island  of  Sardinia,  so  that 
the  population  rapidly  increased.  He  desired  to  abolish  feudalism, 
but  could  not  entirely  succeed  in  doing  so,  though  he  did  away  with 
a  great  part  of  its  claims. 

While  Charles  Emmanuel  was  thus  carrying  on  his  reforms  in 
Piedmont,  Leopold  I.,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  and  second  son  of 
Francis  and  Maria  Theresa,  did  the  same  in  his  own  states.  He 
abolished  many  privileges,  forbade  the  use  of  torture,  and  did  away 
with  many  other  abuses  in  the  administration  of  justice.  He  dis- 
solved the  guilds,  reorganized  the  studies  of  the  university,  and 
founded  schools  and  hospitals. 

During  the  reign  of  Charles  Emmanuel  two  events  happened 
which  lighted  up  commotion  throughout  Europe  as  well  as  Italy, 
namely,  the  Polish  war  and  the  War  of  the  Succession  of  Austria. 
In  Poland  the  king  was  always  chosen  by  election — that  is,  at  the 
death  of  any  sovereign,  the  son  did  not  succeed  his  deceased  father ; 
but  the  principal  nobles  of  the  kingdom,  termed  electors,  held  an 
assembly,  and  elected  the  person  whom  they  considered  most  capa- 
ble of  holding  the  reins  of  government,  even  though  a  foreigner. 

In  the  year  1733  the  King  of  Poland,  by  name  Frederick,  died, 
and  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom  were  in  disagreement  as  to  the  choice 
of  a  successor.  France  favored  a  certain  Stanislaus,  who  had  al- 
ready been  king  in  the  early  part  of  that  century.  But  Austria  and 
Russia  wished  Augustus  of  Saxony,  son  of  the  deceased  monarch, 
to  be  chosen.      This  led  to  a  war  on  the  part  of  France  and  Spain 

2  This  was  due  to  the  Peace  of  Vienna  between  France  and  Austria.     Tus- 
cany became  a  secundogeniture  of  the  Austrian  house. 


FOUNDING     OF     KINGDOM  333 

1735-1743 

against  Russia  and  Austria.  The  theater  of  this  war  was  for  the 
most  part  in  Italy,  and  the  King  of  Sardinia  took  part,  now  on  one 
side  and  now  on  the  other,  employing  both  courage  and  circum- 
spection for  the  preservation  of  his  own  states.3 

The  other  event  which  had  much  to  do  with  the  contemporary 
history  of  Italy  was  the  War  of  Succession  of  Austria.  Charles 
VI.,  Holy  Roman  Emperor,  died  in  1740  without  leaving  any  other 
heir  than  Maria  Theresa,  wife  of  Francis,  Duke  of  Tuscany.  By 
force  of  a  law  called  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  she  was  now  heir  to 
the  Hapsburg  lands.  But  Prussia,  France,  and  Spain  declared 
against  Maria  Theresa,  so  that  they  might  have  the  chance  of 
dividing  the  Austrian  territories  among  themselves.  England  and 
Sardinia,  on  the  other  hand,  opposed  them,  and  out  of  this  arose  a 
great  European  war  which  lasted  nine  years. 

Charles  Emmanuel  throughout  the  strife  showed  himself  a 
true  hero,  and  signalized  himself  in  many  battles  both  in  Italy  and 
abroad.  A  powerful  army  of  Austrians  and  Piedmontese  routed 
on  several  occasions  the  allied  French  and  Spanish  forces,  and  at 
length  succeeded  in  driving  them  wholly  out  of  Italy.  The  con- 
querors, rendered  confident  by  these  successes,  divided  themselves 
into  two  portions.  The  main  army,  composed  of  Germans, 
marched  toward  Genoa,  while  Charles  Emmanuel  followed  the 
French  along  the  Riviera  and  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
toward  France.  Here  he  gained  several  victories  over  the  French 
army,  until,  that  army  being  reinforced,  he  suffered  a  defeat,  and 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Piedmont. 

A  numerous  army  of  French  now  attempted  to  descend  into 
Piedmont  on  the  side  of  Monginevro.  Up  to  that  time  there  had 
only  been  two  practicable  roads  from  France  into  Piedmont — one 
which  passed  close  by  the  fortress  of  Fenestrelle,  and  then  descended 
toward  Pinerolo,  while  the  other  followed  the  route  through  Susa 
and  had  to  pass  the  fortress  of  Exilles.  The  French,  to  avoid  these 
two  fortresses,  attempted  to  pass  by  the  Col  of  Assietta,  which  di- 
vides the  mountain  on  which  these  two  fortresses  are  situated.  To 
defend  the  Col  of  Assietta,  four  battalions  of  Austrians  were  posted 
there,  and  ten  battalions  of  Piedmontese,  under  the  command  of 
Count  Bricherasio.     The  French  to  the  number  of  forty  battalions, 

3  He  wished  to  eat  the  artichoke,  i.  c,  Lombard,  leaf  by  leaf,  he  said,  and 
he  proceeded  carefully,  bargaining  with  both  sides,  to  secure  the  most  possible 
of  his  coveted  artichoke. 


!334  I  T  A  L  Y 

1743-1745 

guided  by  General  Belleisle,  a  brave  but  inexpert  leader,  commenced 
their  descent  by  the  rocks  and  precipices.  At  the  sight  of  these  un- 
expected assailants,  who  climbed  down  among  the  fragments  and 
crevices  of  the  mountains,  the  defenders  were  struck  with  terror,  the 
more  so  as  the  enemy  were  so  much  more  numerous  than  themselves, 
and  covered  well-nigh  the  whole  mountain.  Notwithstanding  this, 
considering  their  favorable  position,  and  thinking  that  the  safety  of 
the  whole  country  depended  on  the  safety  of  that  fort,  they  de- 
termined to  make  a  bold  resistance.  The  French  made  many 
desperate  attacks,  which  were  repelled  with  equal  boldness  by  the 
besieged. 

Belleisle,  wishing  to  make  a  last  attempt,  took  the  flag,  invited 
his  companions  to  follow  him,  and  climbed  up,  determined  to  take 
the  fort  or  die.  The  besieged,  seeing  themselves  assailed  with  so 
much  impetuosity,  redoubled  their  efforts.  Lances,  swords,  artil- 
lery, everything  was  brought  to  bear ;  rocks  and  stones  were  hurled 
down  upon  the  enemy,  until  they  were  at  last  forced  to  give  way, 
and  victory  declared  itself  on  the  side  of  the  Piedmontese.  The 
French  general  fell ;  five  thousand  French,  among  whom  were  three 
hundred  officers  belonging  to  the  first  nobility,  remained  dead  or 
were  taken  prisoners.  The  others,  struck  with  terror,  returned  and 
took  refuge  in  France. 

But  the  Germans  who  had  marched  upon  Genoa,  not  knowing 
how  to  use  their  victories  with  moderation,  met  with  a  sad  reverse. 
To  understand  this,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  Genoese  had  allied 
themselves  with  the  French,  and  had  given  them  great  help  in 
the  war  against  the  Piedmontese  and  Austrians.  But  now  the 
French  being  worsted,  and  compelled  to  retire  in  haste,  a  general 
named  Botta,  a  native  of  Pavia,  marched  upon  Genoa  to  take  his 
revenge. 

The  Genoese  having  been  obliged  to  supply  arms,  soldiers, 
money,  and  other  aid  to  the  French,  were  not  now  in  a  position  to 
make  a  vigorous  defense,  and  therefore  sued  for  peace,  offering  to 
agree  to  any  conditions  he  might  make.  Botta,  profiting  by  the 
panic  of  the  citizens,  imposed  very  hard  conditions ;  among  others, 
that  the  gates  of  the  city  should  be  thrown  open,  the  artillery  and 
munitions  of  war  given  up,  the  doge  sent  to  Vienna,  and  a  large  sum 
of  money  paid  down  for  the  expenses  of  the  war.  These  conditions 
were  extremely  hard,  virtually  despoiling  the  republic  and  making 
slaves  of  the  citizens.      The  Genoese  begged  in  the  most  abject 


RAPHAEL  SANCTIUS  (RAFAELE  SAXZIO)  OF  URH1XO 
(Horn  1483.  Died  1520) 
Portrait  by  Scbastiano  del  Piombo  vi  485-1 547)  in  the  Xational  Gallery  at 
Budapest.  In  the  Scarpia  collection  at  La  Motta  di  Li:en:a  this  picture 
passed  for  years  as  a  portrait  by  Raphael  of  Antonio  Tebaldco,  the 
Ferrarese  courtier-poet.  On  purely  intrinsic  evidence  both  Morelli  and 
Bercnson  identify  it  as  a  portrait  of  Raphael  at  the  age  of  twenty-six 
or   tzcentx-sc'ccn    rears. 


FOUNDING     OF     KINGDOM  335 

1745-1748 

manner  that  the  victorious  general  would  mitigate  his  conditions, 
but  without  effect,  for  hardly  had  Botta  made  his  entrance  than 
he  imposed  another  tribute  of  eighteen  million  francs,  six  million 
of  which  were  to  be  paid  within  six  days,  six  million  more  in  eight 
days,  and  the  balance  within  fifteen  days.  To  these  oppressions  they 
added  barbarous  threats  and  continual  robberies.  The  Genoese  sent 
a  deputation,  which  the  general  turned  back,  saying,  "  You  are 
unworthy  of  consideration.  We  mean  to  despoil  you  of  all  you 
have,  and  leave  you  nothing  but  your  eyes  to  weep."  They  were 
obliged,  therefore,  to  sell  all  the  treasure  in  the  churches,  and  the 
public  funds ;  and  thus,  by  dint  of  great  efforts,  the  eighteen  million 
francs  were  paid.  But  what  was  their  surprise  when  the  Germans 
made  demand  for  another  six  million  francs,  then  other  sums, 
besides  threatening  to  sack  the  city  in  case  of  refusal.  On  this  the 
indignation  of  the  citizens  was  aroused,  and  it  only  needed  an 
occasion  for  a  general  rebellion  to  break  out.  An  occasion  soon 
presented  itself. 

While  the  Germans  were  dragging  a  great  mortar  through  the 
city,  the  street  sank  in,  and  the  cavalcade  was  stopped.  They  ac- 
cordingly attempted  to  force  the  people  to  lend  them  aid,  and  those 
who  refused  had  to  receive  blows  with  sticks.  At  the  sight  of  this 
brutal  oppression,  a  young  man  named  Ballilla,  boiling  over  with 
indignation  and  desperation,  took  up  a  stone,  and  saying,  "  It  is 
high  time  to  finish  this,"  threw  it  at  one  of  the  Germans.  Instantly 
men  of  every  age  and  condition  began  to  pelt  the  soldiers  with  stones 
and  pieces  of  rock.  Some  of  them  were  killed,  while  others,  leaving 
the  mortar  in  the  road,  took  to  flight.  The  tumult,  however,  went 
on  increasing;  night  came  on,  and  the  people,  arming  themselves 
with  everything  they  could  lay  hold  of,  assailed  the  Germans  even 
up  to  the  mouth  of  the  cannon.  Botta  then  knew  that  he  had  com- 
mitted a  great  mistake  in  abusing  his  victory,  and  after  some  hours 
of  fierce  combat,  offered  favorable  terms  to  the  Genoese,  who  refused 
them,  saying,  "  We  want  no  more  alms  from  you." 

Nothing  remained  then  to  the  Germans  but  a  hasty  flight,  the 
Genoese  following  at  their  heels,  crying,  "  Viva  Genoa!  Viva 
Maria!"  So  precipitous  was  the  flight  that  they  left  behind  them 
all  the  munitions  of  war  and  the  provisions  of  the  army. 

The  fight  at  Assietta  and  the  liberation  of  Genoa  are  the  last 
events  in  the  Wrar  of  the  Austrian  Succession.  All  the  people  of 
Italy  were  tired  of  war.  and  the  powers,  to  make  an  end  of  it,  held  a 


336  ITALY 

1748 

conference  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Thus  in  the  year  1748  peace  was 
established,  and  Francis  I.,  husband  of  Maria  Theresa,  was  recog- 
nized Emperor  of  Germany.  Charles  Emmanuel  received  by  the 
peace  the  upper  part  of  Novara  and  Vigerano,  thus  realizing  some 
at  least  of  his  territorial  ambitions ;  Don  Philip  was  given  Parma, 
Piacenza,  and  Guastalla  as  an  independent  duchy ;  Don  Carlos  was 
confirmed  in  the  Two  Sicilies.  From  this  date,  1748,  till  1796. 
Italy  was  undisturbed  by  invasion. 


Chapter    XLIII 

CELEBRATED  MEN  OF  THE  MIDDLE  EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY.     1 750- 1 800 

A  FTER  the  victory  of  Assietta,  the  liberation  of  Genoa,  and 
L\  the  peace  concluded  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  nearly  half  a  cen- 
X  JLtury  passed  over  without  any  remarkable  political  events 
affecting-  the  condition  of  Italy.  The  Seven  Years'  War,  with 
France,  Austria,  and  Russia  on  the  one  side,  Prussia  and  England 
on  the  other,  occupied  the  whole  attention,  and  taxed  all  the  re- 
sources, of  the  greater  powers  of  Europe.  But  Italy  took  no  part 
in  these  conflicts,  and  their  narration  cannot,  therefore,  properly  find 
any  place  in  Italian  history.  While  these  events  are  transpiring, 
we  can  therefore  give  some  account  of  a  few  of  the  remark- 
able men  who  lived  in  Italy  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

The  first  we  shall  mention  is  Julius  Alberoni,  son  of  a  gardener 
in  Piacenza.  Showing  in  early  life  great  aptitude  for  learning,  his 
father  procured  for  him  the  means  of  prosecuting  his  studies,  in 
which  he  made  marvelous  progress.  He  then  embraced  the  eccle- 
siastical profession.  His  great  ability  and  aptitude  for  managing 
affairs  of  state  afterward  led  him  to  take  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
most  important  political  affairs  of  Europe.  He  was  first  a  parish 
priest,  then  a  canon,  and  secretary  to  the  Bishop  of  St.  Donnino,  and 
after  a  time  became  minister  to  the  King  of  Spain.  In  this  capacity 
he  was  mixed  up  with  many  important  events.  Among  other  things 
he  caused  a  powerful  fleet  to  be  got  ready  with  the  utmost  secrecy  in 
Spain,  sailed  with  it  to  Italy,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  islands 
of  Sicily  and  Sardinia.  But  as  it  was  by  means  of  political  in- 
trigues that  he  was  brought  to  the  apex  of  power,  so  it  was  through 
them  also  that  he  was  destined  to  be  brought  low.  After  having 
been  for  many  years  arbiter  of  affairs  in  Spain,  he  was,  as  a  result 
of  his  Italian  plans,  at  the  instance  of  France,  England,  and  Sar- 
dinia, deposed  from  his  high  position  and  sent  into  exile.     Among 

337 


338  ITALY 

1750-1800 

the  things,  however,  which  render  the  memory  of  Alberoni  remark- 
able, we  ought  to  mention  the  college  founded  at  Piacenza,  at  his 
expense,  where  sixty  poor  youths  enjoy  free  education.  In  this 
college  he  terminated  his  days  in  the  year  1752. 

"  One  man  of  genius,  Vittorio  Alfieri,  the  creater  of  Italian 
tragedy,  .  .  .  taught  to  the  Italians  the  lesson  of  respect  for 
themselves  and  for  their  country  (a  lesson)  .  .  .  which  Italy 
most  of  all  required  to  learn;  and  the  appearance  of  this  manly 
and  energetic  spirit  in  its  literature  gave  hope  that  the  Ital- 
ian nation  would  not  long  be  content  to  remain  without  polit- 
ical being."  x 

Ludovico  Antonio  Muratori  ranks  as  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  whom  Europe  produced  during  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was 
born  at  Vignola,  a  village  near  Modena,  and  made  his  first  studies  in 
that  city.  He  early  signalized  himself  by  the  astonishing  progress 
which  he  made  in  the  ancient  languages,  in  philosophy,  in  jurispru- 
dence, and  in  theology.  He  was  sober  and  diligent,  ate  only  what  was 
sufficient  to  sustain  life,  allowed  himself  only  five  hours'  rest  in  the 
day,  and  took  care  never  to  lose  a  moment  of  time  from  morning  to 
night.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  Muratori  was  reckoned  one  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  his  time.  He  became  a  priest,  and  was  ap- 
pointed to  one  of  the  principal  churches  in  Modena.  But  being 
invited  by  the  duke  to  become  his  librarian,  he  renounced  his 
ecclesiastical  office,  and  buried  himself  in  his  favorite  studies. 

The  works  he  published  amount  to  the  number  of  sixty-four 
volumes  in  folio.  They  relate  chiefly  to  the  history  of  Italy.  He 
first  collected  and  published  the  most  important  documents,  and  then 
wrote  the  annals  of  the  country  based  upon  these  most  trustworthy 
reports.  He  also  published  works  on  religion  and  theology.  He 
died  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  in  the  year  1750.  To  the  present 
day  the  works  of  Muratori  are  one  of  the  main  sources  from  which 
the  materials  of  Italian  history  are  drawn. 

Another  celebrated  author  and  poet  flourished  at  this  time, 
namely,  Pietro  Bonaventura  Trapassi,  commonly  termed  Metas- 
tasio.  He  was  the  son  of  a  poor  tradesman  in  Rome,  who  for  want 
of  means  could  not  send  his  son  to  school  to  be  educated ;  but  a  cer- 
tain advocate  named  Gravina,  hearing  him  one  day  recite  some 
verses  extempore,  took  him  into  favor,  and  had  him  instructed  in 
Latin  and  Greek.  By  the  advice  of  his  teacher  he  composed  a 
1  Fyffe,  "  Modern  Europe,"  p.  76. 


MIDDLE     EIGHTEENTH     CENTURY     339 

1750-1800 

tragedy  entitled  "  Guistino  "  when  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  in 
which  the  genius  of  the  youth  first  began  to  manifest  itself.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  he  lost  his  benefactor,  who  left  him,  however,  a  con- 
siderable fortune.  As  the  reputation  of  his  dramas  began  to  be 
widely  extended,  he  was  invited  to  Vienna,  the  imperial  city,  and  a 
salary  was  given  him,  with  the  title  of  Imperial  Poet. 

Metastasio  composed  many  famous  poems,  and  showed  a  most 
generous  and  disinterested  character.  He  was  greatly  honored  by 
the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  and  died  at  a  good  old  age  amid  the 
regrets  of  the  wise  and  the  great. 

We  shall  mention  one  other  man  of  note  who  lived  somewhat 
later  than  Metastasio,  namely,  Giuseppe  Parini.2  He  was  born  at 
Bosisio,  a  village  in  Lombardy,  also  of  poor  parents.  The  father 
perceiving  the  great  ability  of  his  son,  and  his  extraordinary  dili- 
gence in  study,  not  being  able  otherwise  to  aid  his  progress,  sold  his 
farm  and  went  to  live  at  Milan.  There  they  soon  became  reduced 
to  great  straits,  and  the  lad  had  to  occupy  his  time  in  copying  briefs 
for  advocates,  the  proceeds  of  which  he  carried  home  to  his  parents. 
On  the  death  of  his  father,  he  made  over  all  that  was  left  of  the 
paternal  inheritance  to  his  mother,  and  labored  for  his  own  sub- 
sistence. By  dint  of  industry  and  study  he  became  an  excellent 
poet,  and  was  nominated  public  professor  of  literature  by  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Milan. 

Parini  labored  assiduously  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  filled  many  important  posts  in  the  municipality.  In  1796,  when 
General  Bonaparte  made  his  victorious  entrance  into  Milan,  Parini 
was  selected  from  among  the  members  of  the  municipal  body  to 
confer  with  him,  and  succeeded  by  his  firmness  and  sagacity  in 
warding  off  many  evils.  He  possessed  an  ardent  temperament,  but 
held  it  always  under  control,  and  never  bore  enmity  against  anyone, 
not  even  his  personal  enemies.  He  died  at  Milan  at  the  age  of 
seventy,  in  the  year  1799,  a  year  big  with  important  events  for  the 
future  of  Italy.  In  other  directions,  we  have  Galvani  of  Bologna 
and  Volta  of  Como,  whose  works  on  electricity  rendered  them  fa- 
mous. Beccaria  wrote  his  famous  book  on  "  Crimes  and  Punish- 
ments," advocating  a  due  relation  between  them ;  and  Filangieri  of 
Naples  wrote  on  the  "  Science  of  Legislation,"  an  admirable  work. 
In  the  drama  we  find  the  celebrated  Goldoni.      At  this  time  also 

2  See  "Die  italienisclie  Einheitsidcc  in  Hirer  litterarischen  Entwicklung  vo>i 
Parini  bis  Manzoni,"  by  O.  Bulle,  Berlin,  1893. 


340  I  T  A  L  Y 

1750-1800 

several  of  the  princes  deserve  by  their  attempts  at  reform  to  be 
numbered  among  the  princes  eclaires  of  the  century.  Notable 
among-  them  was  the  Bourbon  Charles  of  Naples,  aided  by  his  min- 
ister, Tanucci.  In  Parma,  Duke  Philip,  guided  by  Dutillot,  carried 
through  extensive  reforms ;  and  the  same  was  true  in  Tuscany  under 
the  Grand  Dukes  Francis  and  Leopold;  and  finally  Charles  Em- 
manuel I.  of  Sardinia  proved  himself  a  reformer. 


Chapter   XLIV 

ITALY  AND  NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE.      1789-1815. 

IN  the  various  states  of  Italy  the  form  of  government  which 
had  existed  in  the  time  of  Charles  V.  had  with  few  exceptions 
remained  unaltered  down  to  1796.  Piedmont  belonged  to 
the  house  of  Savoy,  and  had  taken  the  title  of  the  kingdom  of  Sar- 
dinia. Lombardy  was  under  the  government  of  the  Emperor  of 
Germany.  The  two  republics  of  Genoa  and  Venice  continued  to 
exist,  but  in  a  degenerate  form ;  for  since  the  discovery  of  America 
they  had  ceased  to  be  the  great  centers  of  commerce  and  the  queens 
of  the  ocean,  which  they  had  been  for  centuries  before.  In  the  Two 
Sicilies  and  the  dukedom  of  Parma  princes  were  still  reigning  who 
were  descended  from  the  Spanish  Bourbons.  Lucca  was  a  republic. 
In  Tuscany  there  was  a  grand  duke,  brother  of  the  Roman  emperor. 
Rome  and  the  Romagna  formed  the  states  of  the  church,  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  Roman  states  was  the  little  republic  of  San  Marino, 
which  still  exists  in  the  center  of  Italy. 

Moreover,  for  fifty  years  there  had  been  peace  in  Italy,  and  for 
the  most  part  throughout  Europe  also.  Despite  the  reforms  and 
works  of  literature  and  science  referred  to  above,  Italy  as  a  whole, 
that  is,  the  mass  of  the  people,  was  sunk  in  a  hopeless  lethargy,  un- 
disturbed from  within  or  without  and  superstitiously  devout.  As 
Quinet  says,  "  Roman  Catholicism  had  become  the  patrie  of 
the  lower  classes,"  through  lack  of  any  other.  The  disputes  be- 
tween the  Roman  See  and  the  temporal  princes  of  Italy  had  been 
allayed,  and  Clement  XIV.  had  embellished  Rome  itself  during  his 
pontificate,  having  formed  there  a  museum  of  antiquities,  and  in 
various  ways  promoted  the  fine  arts.  Meanwhile,  in  France,  a 
great-grandson  of  Louis  XIV.  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  under 
the  title  of  Louis  XV.  This  prince  had  at  first  excited  great  ex- 
pectations; but,  surrounded  by  evil  company,  he  became  soon  en- 
gulfed in  a  life  of  mere  pleasure,  neglecting  the  affairs  of  the  state, 
and  shutting  his  eyes  to  the  misery  of  the  people.  After  a  long  and 
useless  reign  he  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Louis  XVI.    When 

341 


342  I  T  A  L  Y 

1789-1796 

this  prince  came  to  the  throne  the  offices  and  revenues  of  the  state 
were  wretchedly  mismanaged,  grievous  burdens  were  pressing  upon 
the  people,  justice  was  badly  administered,  and  famine  was  stalking 
through  the  land.  Louis  attempted  to  stem  these  evils,  but  his 
efforts  proved  in  vain.  The  facts  of  the  French  Revolution  are  too 
extraneous  to  require  any  other  than  the  briefest  record.  Un- 
heard-of barbarities  were  committed,  religion  was  persecuted,  the 
nobility  were  driven  into  exile  and  their  lands  confiscated,  the  king 
and  queen  were  brought  to  the  scaffold,  and  the  whole  framework 
of  society  was  subverted. 

The  abettors  of  this  revolution  now  began  to  propagate  their 
principles  throughout  Italy,  where  on  the  whole,  till  1796,  they  met 
with  little  sympathy  and  long  found  the  priests  to  be  their  worst 
enemies,  owing  to  the  French  irreligion.  A  French  army  had 
already  found  the  way  across  the  Alps,  with  the  aim  of  making 
themselves  masters  of  Italy  by  force  of  arms,  aided  by  sympathizers 
in  that  country.  The  King  of  Sardinia,  Victor  Amadeus  II.,  gave 
a  vigorous  opposition  to  this  movement,  which  in  fact  made  but  little 
way  until  the  republican  government  in  France  placed  General 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  invasion.  This 
general  was  a  native  of  Ajaccio  in  Corsica,  his  family  having  or- 
iginally gone  from  Tuscany  to  settle  in  that  island.  He  was  placed 
while  almost  a  child  in  a  military  college  in  France,  and  soon  showed 
great  aptitude  in  all  military  affairs.  When  his  scholastic  career 
was  completed,  he  entered  the  French  army  as  a  sub-lieutenant,  but 
rose  rapidly  in  the  ranks  until  he  was  then  intrusted  with  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  in  Italy. 

The  news  that  the  French  were  on  their  way,  led  by  Napoleon, 
struck  terror  into  the  minds  of  the  Italian  princes,  who  conferred 
together  to  invite  aid  from  the  English,  the  Austrians,  and  the 
Russians.  But  these  powers  were  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of 
conflict,  and  their  help  was  long  in  coming;  moreover,  the  republics 
of  Genoa  and  Venice  and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  refused  to 
join  the  alliance,  and  thus  rendered  the  efforts  of  the  defenders  of 
Italy  almost  useless. 

Napoleon  now  managed  with  marvelous  rapidity  to  penetrate 
into  Italy.  The  Piedmontese  resisted  for  some  time;  but  then  feel- 
ing themselves  too  weak  to  hold  front  against  the  enemy  any  longer, 
they  attempted  to  make  terms.  Accordingly  an  armistice  was  con- 
cluded in  Cherasco  between  Bonaparte  and  the  king's  ministers, 


ITALY     AND     NAPOLEON  343 

1796-1798 

and  later  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  in  Paris.  By  virtue  of 
this  treaty  the  annexation  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to  France,  which  had 
taken  place  in  1792,  was  confirmed;  the  fortresses  of  Ceva,  Cuneo, 
Tortona,  and  Alessandria  were  occupied  by  French  soldiers,  while 
those  of  Exilles,  Brunetta,  and  Susa  were  demolished;  in  a  word, 
everything  was  taken  which  could  serve  as  a  future  defense  to  the 
country. 

Thus,  then,  the  Piedmontese  were  the  first  to  bear  the  foreign 
yoke.  Napoleon,  it  is  true,  was  not  one  of  those  who  aimed  at  the 
destruction  of  the  people  and  their  religion;  but  in  order  to  satisfy 
his  soldiers  and  to  strike  terror  into  the  minds  of  the  people  he 
subdued,  he  imposed  heavy  contributions  of  money  and  of  works  of 
art  on  friend  and  foe  alike  and  crushed  all  opposition  to  his  rule 
with  an  unsparing  hand. 

Napoleon  did  all  he  could  to  spread  revolutionary  ideas  through 
the  country,  and  encouraged  the  people  to  rise  in  opposition  to  their 
sovereigns.  Milan  became  the  capital  of  the  Cisalpine  republic, 
and  thus  the  French  army,  making  its  progress  through  Italy,  ar- 
rived near  to  Rome.  Napoleon  sent  a  message  to  the  Pope,  saying 
that  he  would  content  himself  with  the  cession  of  Ferrara  and 
Bologna,  and  would  not  do  anything  to  disturb  the  rest  of  his  states, 
provided  he  furnished  him  with  a  large  sum  of  money.  Pope  Pius 
VI.,  who  was  powerless  to  resist,  consented  to  the  demands  of  Na- 
poleon, and  paid  him  the  required  sum  of  money,  selling  many 
sacred  objects  from  the  churches  to  raise  it.  But  when  the  French, 
commanded  by  General  Berthier,  entered  Rome,  they  at  once  an- 
nounced that  the  Pope  was  dethroned  from  his  temporal  sovereignty, 
removed  the  Roman  guards,  and  put  French  soldiers  in  their  place. 

Not  content  with  this,  the  French  general  now  proceeded  to 
add  insult  to  injury,  and  insisted  on  clothing  the  Pope  in  a  tri- 
colored  scarf.  But  Pius  VI.  answered :  "  I  know  nothing  of  any 
device  but  that  of  the  church.  You  have  power  over  my  body,  but 
my  mind  is  superior  to  any  such  attempt.  You  may  burn  the 
dwellings  of  the  living  and  desecrate  the  tombs  of  the  dead,  but 
religion  itself  is  eternal.  It  will  exist  after  you,  as  it  existed  before, 
and  its  reign  will  last  forever."  While  this  colloquy  was  passing, 
soldiers  were  sent  to  sack  the  pontifical  palace.  They  made  their 
entrance  into  the  most  venerable  cabinets,  and  sold  many  of  the 
precious  volumes  from  the  Vatican  library.  There  was  not  a  thing, 
however  sacred,  which  was  not  seized  upon  to  turn  into  money. 


344  ITALY 

1798-1799 

The  Pope  was  now  obliged  to  leave  Rome,  and  took  refuge  in  a 
convent  at  Florence,  where  he  was  visited  by  many  of  the  unfortu- 
nate princes,  and  among  others  by  Charles  Emmanuel  II.,  King 
of  Sardinia.  This  unhappy  prince,  after  having  held  out  manfully 
against  the  republicans,  had  been  forced  to  abandon  his  throne  on 
the  mainland  and  take  refuge  in  the  island  of  Sardinia.  Arriving 
at  Florence,  he  had  an  interview  with  Pius  VI. ;  and  when  he  and 
his  family  saw  him,  they  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  overcome  by 
their  mutual  misfortunes.  Charles  Emmanuel  continued  his  voyage 
to  Sardinia,  and  the  venerable  pontiff  was  taken  prisoner  to  France, 
where  he  died  after  a  month's  confinement  on  August  29,  1799. 

In  the  meantime,  two  formidable  armies  had  come  from  Ger- 
many to  the  relief  of  Italy,  marching  along  the  banks  of  the  Adige, 
between  Venice  and  Verona.  Napoleon  was  at  this  time  occupied 
with  the  siege  of  Mantua,  and  not  feeling  himself  strong  enough  to 
continue  the  siege  and  at  the  same  time  hold  front  against  these  two 
armies,  he  left  Mantua  and  marched  against  the  first  army  as  it 
descended  from  the  Alps,  and  put  it  to  flight ;  then  he  hastened  to 
meet  the  second  army,  and  routed  it  also.  Then  returning  to  the 
siege  of  Mantua,  he  forced  it  to  surrender.  The  Italians,  how- 
ever, did  not  everywhere  rest  content  with  this  state  of  things. 
Discontent  showed  itself  in  Verona,  and  a  French  vessel  entering 
Venice  was  assailed  by  the  Venetians.  Napoleon,  making  a  pre- 
text of  these  things,  attacked  Venice,  and  making  himself  master  of 
the  city,  abolished  the  old  government  and  shortly  handed  over 
Venice  and  its  territory  to  Austria.  He  afterward  did  the  same 
thing  at  Genoa.  Thus  these  two  republics,  after  a  glorious  career 
of  fifteen  centuries,  fell  like  a  man  weighed  down  with  years  and 
toil,  without  any  hope  of  a  revival.  All  Italy,  except  Naples  and 
Venice,  accordingly,  had  now  become  French  (1797). 

In  this  year  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  between  France 
and  Austria,  called  the  Treaty  of  Campoformio.  By  virtue  of  this 
treaty  the  River  Rhine  was  made  the  limit  of  France,  and  the 
Ionian  Islands  were  ceded  to  it.  By  the  same  treaty,  also,  the  Cisal- 
pine republic  was  extended  to  the  River  Adige. 

In  relating,  as  we  have  just  done,  the  victories  of  the  French, 
it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  met  with  no  difficulties  from  the 
resistance  of  the  Italians.  Difficulties,  in  fact,  soon  made  their 
appearance,  when  Napoleon,  imagining  that  he  had  well  consoli- 
dated the  dominion  of  the  French  in  Italy,  left  the  country,  and 


ITALY     AND     NAPOLEON  345 

1799-1800 

went  on  an  expedition  into  Egypt,  in  order  to  make  himself  master 
of  more  distant  countries.  The  Russians  and  Austrians  also,  with 
some  other  of  the  European  sovereigns,  mustered  their  forces  to 
oppose  the  conquerors,  who  threatened  to  overrun  the  whole  of 
Europe.  The  French,  indeed,  exhibited  marvelous  valor,  but  as 
the  results  of  a  war  depend  mainly  upon  the  skill  of  the  general, 
and  as  Napoleon  was  no  longer  at  the  head  of  the  French  forces, 
they  met  with  several  reverses,  until  they  were  at  length  driven 
wholly  out  of  Italy,  and  pursued  to  the  very  frontiers  of  France. 
The  governments  set  up  by  Napoleon  in  Italy  at  once  fell  and  the 
old  rulers  returned  (1798- 1799). 

When  Napoleon  returned  from  Egypt  and  heard  of  the  defeat 
in  Italy  he  determined  to  regain  possession  of  the  peninsula.  He 
got  together,  at  once,  as  large  a  force  as  he  was  able,  and  marched 
with  the  utmost  celerity  upon  Italy,  making  a  passage  over  the  Great 
St.  Bernard.  In  crossing  the  Alps  the  army  had  to  overcome 
enormous  difficulties,  particularly  in  transporting  the  artillery  and 
the  cavalry,  in  consequence  of  the  glaciers  and  the  precipices  they 
had  to  pass  over.  The  news  of  the  approach  of  Napoleon  at  first 
terrified  the  allies,  but  when  they  came  to  know  that  their  own 
forces  were  far  superior  to  those  of  the  enemy,  they  decided  upon 
resisting  him  at  whatever  cost.  For  this  purpose  they  concentrated 
the  flower  of  the  allied  army  in  the  plain  of  Marengo,  a  small  village 
of  Piedmont,  near  to  Alessandria.  Napoleon  went  boldly  to  con- 
front the  enemy,  and  determined  to  fight  a  pitched  battle  on  the  spot. 
This  battle  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  Napoleon,  of  Italy,  perhaps  of 
the  whole  of  Europe.  Both  sides,  accordingly,  fought  with  the 
utmost  courage  and  fury.  At  the  beginning  the  Austrians  pre- 
vailed, and  Napoleon  was  already  meditating  a  retreat.  But  sud- 
denly fortune  again  smiled  upon  him,  and  the  timely  arrival  of  one 
of  his  generals,  named  Dessaix,  gained  him  the  victory.  The  plains 
of  Marengo  were  covered  with  the  slain.  Nineteen  thousand  Ger- 
mans and  eight  thousand  French  were  left  dead  on  the  field  (1800). 
In  consequence  of  this  battle,  the  Germans  retired  over  the  Mincio, 
and  the  French  regained  Piedmont,  Genoa,  and  Lombardy.  After 
this  deed  of  arms  no  one  could  any  longer  arrest  the  progress  of 
Napoleon.  Victory  attended  him  wherever  he  went.  First,  Naples 
fell  under  his  dominion,  so  that  all  Italy  became  subject  to  the 
French,  while  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Egypt  were  occupied  by  the 
armies  of  the  conqueror. 


346  I  T  A  L  Y 

1800-1804 

But  he,  the  very  man  who  had  hitherto  served  the  French  re- 
public, now  began  to  hate  all  republican  government,  and  aimed  at 
making  himself  absolute  master  both  of  France  and  of  the  other 
kingdoms  he  had  conquered.  First,  he  had  himself  created  consul 
with  two  other  colleagues;  then  first  consul  for  life,  and  in  this  char- 
acter he  introduced  many  reforms.  He  abolished  the  laws  which 
the  republic  had  passed  against  the  nobility  and  the  priests ;  by  the 
concordat  with  Pope  Pius  VII.  in  1801,  friendly  relations  between 
France  and  Rome  were  once  more  resumed,  and  Bonaparte  recog- 
nized the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  religion  as  that  of  the 
majority  of  the  French  people,  and  reorganized  the  government  of 
France;  he  favored  public  education,  and  made  roads  to  facilitate 
commerce.  In  Italy  he  opened  a  national  institution  for  the  pro- 
motion of  science,  and  created  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the  time 
members  of  it. 

After  the  victory  of  Marengo,  Napoleon  pursued  the  war  again 
against  Austria,  from  which  he  took  several  of  the  German  prov- 
inces. In  fact,  he  now  aimed  at  the  same  kind  of  universal  domin- 
ion which  Charlemagne  had  formerly  exercised,  and  had  himself 
solemnly  crowned  by  the  Pope.  In  the  meantime  Pius  VI.  had 
died  in  1799,  and  a  successor  had  to  be  appointed.  At  the  death  of 
Pius  the  French  were  occupying  all  Italy.  The  cardinals  and  many 
of  the  bishops  were  dispersed,  so  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  the 
Sacred  College  to  assemble  to  elect  a  new  Pope.  But  just  at  this 
moment  the  Austrians  and  Russians  were  successful  in  Italy  and 
thus  the  cardinals  were  enabled  to  assemble  and  elect  a  new  pontiff, 
under  the  name  of  Pius  VII. 

The  new  Pope  went  at  once  to  take  possession  of  his  pontifical 
throne,  but  was  soon  called  by  Napoleon  to  Paris,  in  order  to  crown 
him  emperor.  Pius  hesitated  at  first  to  go  at  the  request  of  the 
French  monarch,  because  he  knew  he  only  wished  to  use  him  for 
his  own  political  purposes.  Nevertheless,  with  the  desire  of  render- 
ing himself  friendly  to  so  formidable  a  personage,  to  ward  off  the 
evils  which  would  be  brought  upon  the  church  by  his  refusal,  and 
also  to  make  known  that  he  did  not  desire  to  refuse  the  great  favor 
which  Napoleon  promised  to  confer  upon  the  church,  he  determined, 
finally,  to  accept  the  invitation.  Pius  VII.,  accordingly,  started 
from  Rome,  passed  through  a  large  portion  of  France,  entered  Paris 
amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people,  and  anointed  Napoleon  on 
December  2,  1804. 


ITALY     AND     NAPOLEON  347 

1804-1805 

The  year  after  this,  Napoleon  conquered  the  Austrian  army  at 
Ulm,  and  just  after  the  first  anniversary  of  his  coronation  he 
fought  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  in  Bohemia,  and  gained  a  great  vic- 
tory over  the  two  emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria.  After  this 
battle  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Presburg,  by  virtue  of  which  Venice 
and  Dalmatia  were  ceded  to  the  empire  of  France.  In  the  midst  of 
these  victories  Napoleon  was  always  considering  how  he  could 
strike  a  blow  at  the  prosperity  of  England.  Seeing  that  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  subject  England  by  force  of  arms,  he 
determined  to  try  the  plan  of  crushing  her  commerce.  For  this 
purpose,  he  forbade  all  the  friendly  powers  of  Europe  to  admit 
English  produce  and  manufacture,  which  decree  he  termed  the 
Continental  System.  In  accordance  with  this  system,  he  wished  to 
bind  over  the  King  of  Portugal  to  close  all  his  ports  to  English 
merchandise,  and  gave  orders  that  all  subjects  of  Great  Britain 
found  within  his  states  should  be  arrested  and  their  goods  confis- 
cated. The  King  of  Portugal  not  being  willing  to  consent  to  these 
measures,  Napoleon  determined  to  invade  Portugal  with  a  mixed 
French  and  Spanish  army. 

Aspiring  now  after  glory  and  dominion  like  that  of  Charle- 
magne, he  went  to  Italy  and  had  himself  crowned  King  of  Italy  at 
Milan  with  the  Iron  Crown  with  which  the  ancient  Lombards  were 
accustomed  to  crown  their  sovereigns.  It  is  said  that  as  Napoleon 
placed  the  crown  on  his  own  head,  he  exclaimed,  "  God  has  given 
it  me,  and  woe  be  to  him  who  touches  it !  " 

As  soon  as  Napoleon  had  gained  what  he  desired  from  the 
hands  of  the  Pope,  he  no  longer  thought  of  maintaining  his  prom- 
ises, but  planned  making  himself  master  of  all  the  states  then  under 
the  power  of  the  Papal  See.  To  give  a  specious  pretext  for  doing 
this,  he  made  demands  which  the  Pope  could  not  possibly  grant — 
that  is,  he  demanded  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance;  that  one- 
third  of  the  cardinals  should  be  Frenchmen ;  that  the  whole  temporal 
power,  in  fact,  should  be  virtually  conceded  to  him.  As  the  pontiff 
could  not  make  these  concessions,  Napoleon  commenced  to  lay  an 
impost  of  several  millions  upon  the  country,  in  order  to  pay  which 
the  Pope  had  to  part  with  many  of  the  objects  employed  in  the  sacred 
rites  of  the  churches.  But  soon  Napoleon  showed  his  real  design. 
and  ordered  one  of  his  generals  to  take  possession  of  the  pontifical 
states  and  the  city  of  Rome  itself.  These  were  then  declared  to  be 
annexed  to  France,  and  the  Pope  was  conducted  as  a  prisoner  to 


348  I  T  A  L  Y 

1805-1812 

Fontainbleati.  Thus  the  whole  of  the  Italian  peninsula  fell  under 
the  empire  of  France,  but  it  still  consisted  of  several  states, — the 
kingdom  of  Italy  ruled  by  a  viceroy,  the  kingdom  of  Naples  ruled 
by  Murat,  though  the  Bourbons  still  held  Sicily  and  the  kingdom  of 
Sardinia,  which  was  reduced  to  that  island,  all  the  rest  of  its  terri- 
tory being  annexed  to  France.  Rome  was  declared  the  second  city 
in  the  empire,  being  next  to  Paris. 

Napoleon  now  being  master  of  a  great  part  of  Europe,  parti- 
tioned the  different  kingdoms  among  his  own  relations.  He  ap- 
pointed first  his  brother  Joseph,  but  afterward  his  brother-in-law 
Joachim  Murat,  King  of  Naples.  Murat  was  a  man  of  obscure 
birth,  but  by  his  great  courage  had  gained  favor  with  Napoleon. 
who  now  raised  him  to  the  regal  dignity.  At  the  beginning  of  his 
reign  Murat  took  the  Island  of  Capri,  which  had  been  occupied  by 
the  English.  Next  he  abolished  feudalism,  and  freed  the  whole 
country  from  the  hordes  of  brigands  which  infested  it.  He  then 
tried  to  take  possession  of  Sicily,  but  did  not  succeed.  In  a  word, 
he  endeavored  to  render  himself  wholly  independent  of  France,  but 
only  succeeded  so  far  as  to  remove  the  French  soldiers  away  from 
his  territory. 

Another  brother-in-law  of  Napoleon,  the  Prince  Borghese,  was 
made  Governor  of  Piedmont,  and  to  his  sister  Eliza  he  gave  Tuscany. 
In  181 1  he  constituted  his  own  son — born  of  Maria  Louisa,  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  of  Austria — King  of  Rome.  To  his  brother  Louis 
he  gave  the  kingdom  of  Holland,  to  Joseph  Bonaparte,  Spain,  and 
to  the  youngest  brother  Jerome,  the  kingdom  of  Westphalia. 

These  arbitrary  appointments  showed  the  people  of  Europe 
that  he  had  no  desire  for  their  liberty,  but  only  wished  to  impose 
new  masters  upon  them ;  and  this  gave  rise  to  many  wars  and  out- 
breaks, and  among  others  an  especially  sanguinary  one  in  Spain. 
Italy,  in  fact,  was  divided  by  him  into  three  parts,  of  which  one  only 
bore  the  name  of  the  Italian  kingdom.  This  kingdom  extended 
from  the  River  Sessia  to  the  River  Isonza,  and  from  the  Alps  to  the 
Po.  Beyond  the  Po  it  comprehended  the  territories  of  Modena  and 
Guastalla,  with  some  few  other  provinces,  the  population  being 
about  six  and  a  half  millions. 

With  the  eager  desires  of  subjecting  the  whole  world  to  his 
power,  Napoleon  next  conceived  the  extraordinary  design  of  con- 
quering the  great  empire  of  Russia,  embracing  as  it  does  all  the  vast 
countries  to  the  north  of  Europe  and  Asia.     Napoleon  did  not  dis- 


ITALY     AND     NAPOLEON  349 

1812-1814 

guise  from  himself  that  the  enterprise  was  one  of  great  difficulty, 
and  he  therefore  put  on  foot  an  army  of  more  than  four  hundred 
thousand  men.  With  this  army  he  traversed  the  whole  of  Germany, 
and  advanced  into  the  heart  of  the  colossal  Russian  empire.  The 
great  forces  employed,  and  the  renown  of  the  general,  carried  such 
terror  before  them  that  the  countries  through  which  they  had  to  pass 
were  turned  into  one  vast  desert.  After  several  skirmishes  and  one 
sanguinary  battle,  he  arrived  at  Moscow,  and  took  possession  of  it ; 
but  on  arriving  he  found  that  the  Russian  governor  had  set  fire  to 
the  city,  so  that  it  should  not  serve  as  a  refuge  to  the  French  during 
the  winter  that  was  then  coming  on.  Napoleon  remained  there  one 
whole  month,  hoping  to  force  the  Russians  to  accept  the  conditions 
of  peace  which  he  chose  to  offer.  But  they  refused  to  respond  to 
any  of  his  propositions,  foreseeing  that  winter  would  surprise  him 
in  the  midst  of  a  desolated  country. 

Then  Napoleon  at  last  saw  that  he  had  penetrated  too  far  into 
those  northern  regions  without  the  resources  which  were  indispensa- 
ble for  so  numerous  an  army.  The  winter  came,  and  proved  their 
most  invincible  enemy.  The  rivers  were  frozen,  the  fields  covered 
with  snow.  Warm  clothing  was  indispensable  to  the  soldiers,  and 
of  this  he  had  none.  The  horrors  of  the  retreat  are  a  matter  of 
history.  Some  gave  themselves  up  as  prisoners,  others  died  frozen 
on  the  plains,  and  those  who  still  lived  threw  away  their  arms,  which 
they  could  no  longer  carry.  Few  survived  the  terrible  disaster,  and 
even  Napoleon  himself  with  difficulty  succeeded  in  escaping  into 
France  (1812-1813). 

This  grand  army  being  now  destroyed,  Napoleon  lost  the  sup- 
port on  which  his  power  relied,  and  all  the  nations  whom  he  had 
oppressed  rose  up  against  him.  The  allies  gave  him  battle  near 
Leipsic  and  gained  the  advantage.  Napoleon  fled  to  Paris  and 
was  followed  up  by  the  enemy.  At  length  he  retired  to  Fontaine- 
bleau  and  there  deposed  the  imperial  crown  (1814).  The  allied 
powers  exiled  him  to  Elba,  an  island  lying  between  Corsica  and 
Tuscany.  Austria  was  nowT  in  a  position  to  reoccupy  Italy,  and  the 
allied  sovereigns,  holding  a  congress  at  Vienna,  deliberated  as  to 
the  future  government  of  the  different  provinces  which  they  had  re- 
taken by  force  of  arms.  The  "  legitimate  "  princes  were  for  the  most 
part  restored,  and  the  pristine  forms  of  government  were  again  es- 
tablished, so  that  Italy  in  form  returned  to  its  condition  prior  to 
1796,  but  "the  old  fixity  of  confusion  which  passed  for  govern- 


350  ITALY 

1814-1815 

rnent  "  had  been  too  rudely  shaken  to  be  as  strong  as  ever.  The 
form  might  be  the  same,  the  spirit  was  soon  seen  to  be  different. 

During  the  sitting  of  this  congress  Napoleon  succeeded  in 
escaping  from  Elba,  and  reassuming  the  reins  of  government  in 
France,  March,  1815.  He  disembarked  on  the  shores  of  France, 
where  many  of  his  old  soldiers  received  him  with  transports  of  joy ; 
at  every  step  he  took  the  remains  of  the  great  army  gathered  round 
him;  he  entered  Paris  in  triumph,  and  reestablished  the  imperial 
power. 

At  this  unexpected  news  the  allies  again  armed  themselves  for 
the  conflict,  and  reassembled  their  forces  on  the  frontiers  of  France. 


fS                                                                                      ^\, ^-(                                                              } 

U                                                 SW'lTZERt^                               V               sf** 

rS      TRANCE           -Aland   \„r-'\         /       ^ 

r%\                              V^                                 SARDINIA     '!^0\         lK.f\          ' 

1  f               J^"Nb^5?^/A    x 

7  °  /                           /                                          f\      ff\      ^X  / 

i    7                                   /                               SARDINIA    (     /    V               X^C/VS. 

~v*v                      2                                     \  _J                 ^"X  "N'^u.  \_ 

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ITALY                                                 <C:C£7                       C^ 

AfTER  THE  CONGRESS  OF  VIENNA                                                ^^J                                    v\r 

Napoleon  marched  boldly  into  Belgium  to  confront  them,  and  the 
combatants  engaged  on  the  field  of  Waterloo.  Here  the  imperial 
army  was  defeated,  mainly  by  the  skill  of  Wellington  and  the 
prowess  of  the  English  army,  and  Napoleon  was  obliged  to  retire 
to  Paris.  Thus,  after  having  reigned  a  hundred  days,  he  fell  a 
second  time  from  the  height  of  power.  Napoleon  then  knew  that 
all  further  resistance  was  unavailing,  and  seeing  all  Europe  in 
arms  against  him,  he  consented  to  abdicate  once  and  forever,  and 
to  give  himself  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  This  time  the  place 
of  his  exile  was  St.  Helena,  a  solitary  island  in  the  Atlantic,  anc1 
well-nigh  one  thousand  miles  distant  from  any  known  country. 
There  he  passed  five  years,  meditating  on  his  past  triumphs  and  his 
present  downfall. 

Napoleon  being  now  removed  from  the  scene  of  strife,  the 
sovereigns  of  Europe  proceeded  peacefully  with  their  consultations 
at  Vienna.     By  virtue  of  the  treaty  there  agreed  upon,  arrange- 


ITALY     AND     NAPOLEON  351 

1815 

ments  were  entered  into  in  regard  to  Italy  and  Europe  at  large, 
which  remained  in  force  down  to  the  middle  of  the  present  century. 
Sardinia,  Savoy,  Piedmont,  and  Novara  were  restored  to  their 
former  king,  Genoa  being  now  also  added  to  his  dominions.  The 
countries  belonging  to  Venice  and  Lombardy  were  made  over  to 
Austria,  under  the  name  of  the  Lombardo- Venetian  kingdom.  The 
Neapolitan  states  and  Tuscany  were  restored  to  their  former  sov- 
ereigns. The  Pope  returned  to  the  peaceable  possession  of  his 
states  without  any  alteration.  The  dukedoms  of  Reggio,  Modena, 
and  Mirandola  were  given  to  Francis,  Duke  of  Austria ;  and  those 
of  Parma,  Piacenza,  and  Guastalla  to  Marie  Louise,  the  wife  of 
Napoleon.  Austria,  by  actual  possessions  and  by  the  dependence 
of  the  petty  rulers,  most  of  whom  were  related  to  the  Austrian 
dynasty,  became  more  than  ever  the  predominant  power  in  Italy. 
As  Metternich,  prime  minister  of  Austria,  said :  "  Italy  is  only  a 
geographical  expression."  And  Austria  was  to  prove  the  most 
determined  foe  of  Italian  unity. 


Chapter    XLV 

REVOLUTION   IN   ITALIAN   STATES— WAR  WITH 
AUSTRIA.     1 8201 849 

A  FTER  the  reconstittition  of  the  kingdoms  as  above  noted, 
/  \  in  the  Congress  of  Vienna,1  Italy  enjoyed  some  years  of 
X.  -V.  tranquillity — which,  indeed,  were  greatly  needed  to  repair 
the  evils  caused  by  the  preceding  revolutions  and  wars.  During 
this  period  the  secret  societies,  such  as  the  Carbonari,  Calldieri, 
Young  Italy,  etc.,  grew  very  strong  and  began  to  work  at  first  for 
reforms  in  the  separate  states,  before  long  for  the  union  of  all 
Italy.  To  succeed  in  this  attempt,  all  the  separate  Italian  states 
would  have  to  be  abolished.  They  sought,  therefore,  for  this  end 
to  excite  the  population  everywhere  against  their  sovereigns — 
demanding  a  constitution  similar  to  that  which  had  been  granted 
in  Spain,  where  the  prince  shared  this  power  with  the  people,  and 
all  the  subjects  were  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law.  This  secret  society 
— terming  themselves  Carbonari — was  spread  widely  throughout 
Italy,  and  especially  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  By  promises  and 
by  bribery,  they  succeeded  in  gaining  over  many  of  the  soldiers, 
and  induced  a  general  named  Pepe  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  insurrection.  On  the  morning  of  July  2,  1820,  a  squad- 
ron of  cavalry  stationed  at  Nola  raised  the  republican  standard — 
black,  red,  and  blue.  This  was  the  signal  for  the  revolution  to 
commence.  Many  cities  and  troops,  persuaded  by  the  Carbonari, 
united  themselves  under  the  command  of  Pepe  to  march  upon  Naples 
and  demand  the  constitution  at  the  hands  of  King  Ferdinand. 

The  king,  in  order  to  appease  the  tumult,  called  out  his  sol- 
diers, but  they,  seduced  by  the  revolutionists,  had  for  the  most  part 
deserted.  He  then  determined  to  abdicate  temporarily  in  favor  of 
his  son  Francesco.  Francesco,  wishing  to  put  a  stop  to  the  rebel- 
lion, granted  the  Spanish  constitution,  excepting  only  such  modifi- 
cations as  it  should  be  judged  necessary  to  introduce  into  the 
national  parliament  of  the  future.     With  this  concession,  the  revo- 

1  See  C.   A.   Fyffe,   "  History  of  Modern   Europe,"  first  ed.,    1896,  pp.   413, 
passim,  and  H.  M.  Stephens,  "  Revolutionary  Europe,"  ch.  xi. 

352 


WAR     WITH     AUSTRIA  353 

1820-1821 

lutionary  party  were  appeased,  and  entering  the  city  of  Naples 
with  an  immense  concourse  of  people  from  the  provinces,  they 
defiled  before  the  king  and  the  royal  family. 

While  the  revolutionists  were  thus  consolidating  the  new 
government  and  discussing  the  new  laws  to  be  adopted,  the  great 
powers  of  Europe  held  a  new  congress  at  Laybach  in  Carniola. 
They  fancied  that  the  revolution  in  Naples  indicated  a  movement 
which  threatened  to  upset  the  whole  of  Italy,  and  perhaps  Europe 
itself;  and  in  order  to  provide  measures  to  stem  the  torrent,  they 
invited  Ferdinand  to  make  his  appearance  at  the  congress.  To  this 
invitation  he  readily  responded,  and  his  departure  was  the  sign  for 
the  breaking  up  of  the  revolutionary  party  in  that  city. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  Naples,  the  Sicilians, 
excited  by  the  same  desire  for  liberty,  became  eager  to  render  them- 
selves independent  of  Naples,  as  they  had  been  from  1806  to  181 5. 
Accordingly,  under  the  pretext  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  the  King 
of  Naples,  they  revolted  against  the  Neapolitan  forces  stationed 
at  Palermo,  released  all  the  prisoners,  began  to  sack  the  city,  and 
killed  all  the  Neapolitan  royalists  who  fell  into  their  hands.  Many 
combats  and  great  slaughter  followed,  both  of  the  Neapolitans  on 
the  one  side  and  Sicilians  on  the  other. 

While  these  tumults  were  being  appeased  and  the  constitu- 
tional government  was  being  again  consolidated,  an  unexpected 
incident  dashed  to  the  ground  all  hope  of  Italian  independence. 
Hardly  had  Ferdinand  arrived  in  Laybach  than  the  resolution  of 
the  allied  powers  was  made  known,  namely,  that  they  would  not 
recognize  any  change  of  government  in  Naples,  and  that  the  new 
constitution  should  be  at  once  abolished.  This  resolution  was 
immediately  communicated  to  Francesco  in  Naples. 

We  may  easily  imagine  what  indignation  and  hatred  was 
excited  by  this  news.  Tumults  arose  on  every  side,  and  numbers 
of  the  people  declared  themselves  ready  to  defend  the  constitu- 
tion against  every  assault.  Meantime  a  report  came  that  an  army 
of  fifty  thousand  Austrians  was  marching  upon  Naples.  The  Nea- 
politans, far  from  being  terrified,  prepared  for  a  vigorous  defense. 
Forty  thousand  regular  soldiers,  together  with  a  host  of  irregulars, 
went  out  to  meet  the  Austrians.  Had  this  army  been  properly 
commanded,  they  would  in  all  probability  have  been  successful  in 
their  efforts.  But  there  was  no  cohesion  or  agreement  among  them. 
Discords  arose  among  the  constitutionalists,  and  at  the  approach 


854  ITALY 

1821 

of  the  enemy  the  army  fell  to  pieces,  and  the  Austrians  carried  off 
the  victory  almost  without  a  contest,  entering  Naples  March  24, 
1821. 

General  Pepe  strove  to  organize  a  vigorous  resistance,  and 
on  two  occasions  tried  the  fortune  of  arms;  but,  abandoned  by  his 
supporters,  and  deprived  of  all  help,  he  was  obliged  to  yield.  After 
this  the  whole  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies  gave  in  its  submission 
to  the  legitimate  sovereign ;  and  so  the  Sicilian  war  was  brought  to 
an  end,  without  leaving  any  trace  behind  except  the  memory  of 
public  and  private  misfortune.  The  Bourbon  king  took  severe 
measures  to  punish  his  rebellious  subjects,  in  all  the  ways  so  dear 
to  the  Bourbon  heart.  General  Pepe  took  part  afterward  in  other 
political  movements,  and  was  engaged  in  the  war  of  independence, 
of  which  we  have  to  speak  further  on.  But  fortune  did  not  favor 
him.  After  some  years  of  retirement,  he  died  on  a  journey  to 
the  hills  around  Turin,  near  the  church  of  St.  Vitus,  in  the 
year  1857. 

The  revolutionary  spirit  excited  in  Naples  naturally  affected 
the  neighboring  pontifical  states.  Accordingly,  when  the  Austrian 
army  crossed  the  Po  to  march  upon  Naples,  the  Pope  issued  an 
edict,  in  which  he  stated  that  his  prayers  ascended  to  heaven  that 
the  scourge  of  war  might  be  kept  far  from  his  country,  and  that 
if,  by  the  inscrutable  judgments  of  God,  the  people  of  Italy  must 
be  so  afflicted,  he  as  visible  head  of  the  Church,  and  a  ruler  essen- 
tially pacific,  would  observe  a  perfect  neutrality  toward  all  nations. 

Thus  Rome  was  preserved  for  the  present  from  all  the  disas- 
ters of  war.  Although  the  Carbonari  were  scattered  all  through 
the  papal  dominions  and  attempted  to  excite  rebellion,  they  were 
followed  up  and  expelled.  In  Piedmont,  however,  better  fortune 
awaited  them,  and  especially  in  Turin,  where  they  collected  in  great 
numbers.  Here  a  general  discontent  began  to  be  secretly  enter- 
tained toward  the  actual  government,  which  soon  degenerated  into 
a  revolutionary  spirit.  Only  an  occasion  of  rebellion  was  wanted, 
and  that  soon  presented  itself. 

Some  students  of  the  University  of  Turin  had  for  several  even- 
ings created  a  noise  in  the  theater,  and  on  the  evening  of  January 
11,  1821,  four  of  them  made  their  appearance  with  red  caps,  which 
were  then  the  distinctive  mark  of  the  most  uncompromising  revolu- 
tionists. The  police  getting  notice  of  it,  had  them  arrested  at  the 
close  of  the  play.     Their  companions,   to   the   number  of  three 


WAR     WITH     AUSTRIA  355 

1821 

hundred,  seeing  what  was  done,  flew  to  the  rescue,  shut  themselves 
in  the  university  quadrangle,  and  refused  to  leave  until  their  com- 
panions were  liberated.  Some  yielded  at  length  to  the  threats  of 
the  police,  and  some  remained  obstinate,  and  they  only  consented 
to  leave  the  place  as  a  body  when  they  saw  the  soldiers  ready  to  fire. 
These  things  only  increased  the  general  discontent,  and  the 
constitutionalists  availed  themselves  of  it  to  promote  the  revolution. 
A  decision  was  come  to  in  the  city  of  Alessandria,  that  the  Spanish 
constitution  should  be  proclaimed,  and  with  it  the  reestablishment 
of  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  which  was  to  embrace  the  whole  nation. 
Alessandria  was  the  first  to  raise  the  tricolor  and  banner ;  and  there 
they  soon  proclaimed  a  provisional  government,  to  the  cry  of 
"Long  live  the  king;  long  live  Italy!"  Fossano,  Pinerolo,  and 
a  large  portion  of  the  territory  of  Turin,  together  with  many  of 
the  captains  and  soldiers  stationed  in  the  capital,  followed  the 
revolutionary  movement,  which  spread  like  wildfire  all  through  the 
states.  It  is  said  that  the  revolutionists  proposed  to  Charles  Albert, 
Prince  of  Carignano,  that  he  should  place  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  movement,  with  the  promise  of  being  made  King  of  Italy,  and 
that  for  a  time  he  gave  his  consent;  but  afterward,  reflecting  on 
his  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  legitimate  sovereign,  and  suspecting  that 
the  whole  movement  was  the  work  of  the  Carbonari,  he  thought 
better,  and  refused.  Victor  Emmanuel  I.  was  at  that  time  King 
of  Sardinia,  a  prince  who  had  already  labored  for  some  years  for 
the  welfare  of  his  subjects.  He  was  a  man  of  thoroughly  good 
intentions,  and  counting  on  the  fidelity  of  his  soldiers,  hoped  to 
repress  the  insurrection,  which  was  at  first  quite  insignificant.  But 
when  he  heard  that  many  of  the  cities  and  not  a  few  of  his  own 
soldiers  had  joined  the  rebels,  and  that  a  civil  war  was  imminent, 
he  determined  to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  brother,  Carlo  Felice, 
who  was  then  living  at  Modena.  But  not  to  leave  the  kingdom 
without  a  head,  he  nominated  Charles  Albert  regent.  After  this 
he  retired  with  his  famliy  to  Nice,  which  remained  loyal  amid  the 
general  conflagration.  Meantime,  the  tumult  increased  on  every 
side.  All  was  disorder  in  the  capital.  A  crowd  of  insurgents 
scoured  the  streets,  and  collecting  in  the  piazza,  demanded  the  con- 
stitution with  loud  cries.  The  municipality,  intimidated  by  these 
cries,  sent  a  deputation  to  the  prince,  to  say  that,  in  view  of  the 
dangers  which  surrounded  them,  they  considered  it  indispensable 
that  the  constitution  should  be  granted. 


356  I  T  A  L  Y 

1821 

Charles  Albert  yielded  to  their  insistence,  and  coming-  forward 
upon  the  balcony  of  his  palace,  announced  to  the  assembled  multi- 
tude that  the  constitution  should  be  proclaimed  on  the  following" 
day.  Then,  not  being  willing  to  betray  the  fealty  he  owed  to  the 
sovereign,  he  secretly  absented  himself  from  Turin,  and  took  the 
road  first  to  Novara,  and  then  retired  into  Tuscany.  The  consti- 
tution was  received  with  enthusiasm,  and  at  once  communicated 
to  all  the  different  states  on  the  mainland. 

The  aim  of  the  constitutionalists  was  to  second  the  spirit  of 
independence  which  had  burst  forth  in  Naples  by  attacking  the 
Austrians  and  freeing  Lombardy  and  Venetia,  and  they  were  per- 
suaded that  the  Austrian  army  sent  to  quell  it  would  be  discomfited, 
and  that  an  army  from  Piedmont  and  Lombardy  would  then  finish 
the  whole  business,  and  proclaim  Italy  either  a  united  kingdom  or  a 
republic.  But  as  the  new  constitution  in  Naples  had  but  a  brief  exist- 
ence, so  that  of  Piedmont  was  still  briefer.  The  Piedmontese  forces, 
which  remained  faithful  to  their  sovereign,  concentrated  them- 
selves at  Novara,  and  the  insurgents  followed  to  attack  them.  But 
the  Baron  della  Torre,  who  governed  Novara,  had  by  express  order 
of  the  king  demanded  help  from  the  Austrian  general  in  Milan, 
who  accordingly  sent  several  battalions  to  his  aid,  in  order  that 
the  Piedmontese  should  not  have  to  fight  against  their  own  coun- 
trymen, and  thus  give  rise  to  a  civil  war.  No  sooner  did  the 
constitutionalists  perceive  the  Austrians  issue  forth  from  the  gates 
of  Novara  than  they  took  to  flight,  and  the  Baron  della  Torre 
marched  upon  Turin,  and  entering  the  city  without  any  resistance, 
reestablished  the  regal  government  as  before.  The  heads  of  the 
revolution  were  condemned  to  death,  but  most  of  them  escaped. 
Only  two  were  arrested  and  capitally  punished.  Thus  the  whole 
movement  collapsed,  and  in  place  of  making  a  united  Italy,  only 
helped  to  disunite  it  still  more.  "  The  only  result  of  the  Piedmon- 
tese movement  was  that  the  grasp  of  Austria  closed  more  tightly 
on  its  subject  provinces."  2  Instead  of  liberating  it  from  the  Aus- 
trians, it  only  caused  them  to  occupy  in  addition  the  citadel  of 
Alessandria.3 

The  Neapolitan  and  Piedmontese  revolutions  of  182 1  were 
repressed  by  military  force,  but  the  spirit  of  them  still  remained. 

-  Fyffe,  "  Modern  Europe."  p.  503. 

:!  See  J.  A.  R.  Marriott,  "  The  Makers  of  Modern  Ttaly,"  Lecture  I.,  an 
excellent  little  book  on  the  three  greatest  men  in  the  unification  of  Italy — 
Mazzini,  Cavour,  Garibaldi. 


WAR     WITH     AUSTRIA  357 

1821-1849 

The  plan  still  was  to  make  Italy  into  one  united  state,  and  drive 
all  the  kings  of  Italy  from  their  thrones.  This  idea  led  to  a  second 
revolutionary  attempt  in  1831,  which,  however,  was  crushed  out 
at  its  first  appearance.  Things  went  on  with  apparent  tranquillity 
till  the  year  1847.  ^n  *h\s  year  an  enthusiasm  for  innovation  was 
excited  throughout  all  Italy.  Pius  IX.  had  been  elected  to  the 
pontifical  seat  the  year  before,  and  his  first  act  was  to  grant  a 
general  amnesty,  and  promote  other  reforms  which  he  judged  to 
be  useful  both  to  his  own  people  and  to  the  cause  of  religion. 
It  was  hoped  he  would  grant  a  constitution,  for  it  was  not  yet 
realized  that  an  infallible  Pope  could  not  also  be  a  constitutional 
ruler.  These  acts  of  clemency  caused  his  name  to  be  received  every- 
where with  applause  and  admiration.  The  revolutionists  seized  the 
opportunity  to  spread  anew  through  all  Italy  the  tempting  idea  of 
raising  it  to  one  united  kingdom,  and  driving  their  Austrian  rivals 
out  of  Lombardy.  To  give  effect  to  this  enterprise,  it  was  necessary 
to  take  up  arms,  and  the  cry  arose  on  every  hand,  "  Long  live  Italy, 
long  live  Pio  Nono,  and  death  to  the  Austrians !  " 

The  Piedmontese  helped  on  the  movement  as  opportunity 
offered;  but  the  Milanese  were  the  first  to  take  up  arms  to  drive 
the  Austrians  out  of  the  city,  and  actually  commence  the  war  of 
independence,  in  the  famous  "  Five  March  Days,"  March  18-22, 
in  which  the  citizens  after  desperate  fighting  succeeded  in  expel- 
ling the  veteran  Marshal  Radetzky.  The  fact  that  the  Piedmontese 
led  by  their  king,  Charles  Albert,  were  now  marching  against  him, 
decided  Radetzky  to  retire  to  the  shelter  of  the  fortresses  forming 
the  Quadrilateral,  of  which  Verona  is  best  known. 

This  Charles  Albert  was  the  same  prince  who  had  proclaimed 
the  Spanish  constitution  in  the  year  1821,  and  then  renounced  the 
project,  either  out  of  obedience  to  the  legitimate  sovereign,  or  out 
of  a  desire  not  to  oppose  the  powers  then  in  conference  at  Laybach, 
or  for  some  other  sufficient  reason.  In  the  year  1831  he  ascended 
the  throne  on  the  death  of  Carlo  Felice,  and  for  eighteen  years 
governed  the  country  most  benignly.  His  government,  in  fact,  was 
that  of  a  father  rather  than  a  sovereign,  his  whole  care  being  to 
encourage  good  order  and  morality  throughout  his  whole  kingdom. 
In  1847  ne  introduced  reforms  into  the  mode  of  administering 
justice,  and  in  the  following  year  he  published  a  new  constitution, 
in  which  all  his  subjects  were  declared  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 
This  "  statute  "  is  the  present  constitution  of  united  Italy.     The 


358  I  T  A  L  Y 

1847-1849 

religion  of  the  state  was  the  Roman  Catholic,  but  all  other  forms 
were  tolerated,  in  conformity  with  the  law. 

Charles  Albert  then  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  100,000 
men  to  aid  the  Milanese  and  maintain  the  war  of  independence. 
He  imagined  that  all  the  other  parts  of  Italy  would  also  send  help, 
and,  in  fact,  the  King  of  Naples  did  send  16,000  men  into  Lom- 
bardy,  but  it  was  only  half-heartedly,  and  on  the  first  opportunity 
he  recalled  them.  The  Pope  sent  a  general  (Durando)  at  the  head 
of  10,000  men  to  join  the  national  movement,  but  he  too  was  acting 
under  constraint  of  public  opinion  and  recalled  his  troops  as  soon 
as  possible,  declaring  himself  neutral  and  thus  dealing  a  heavy  blow 
at  the  cause  of  independence.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  also 
sent  6000  men  to  the  aid  of  Charles  Albert,  but  they  were  not  able 
to  join  his  army,  inasmuch  as  on  their  way  they  were  worsted  in 
a  skirmish  with  the  Austrians. 

Charles  Albert,  accordingly,  was  left  chiefly  to  his  own  re- 
sources. But  the  fortune  of  arms  at  first  smiled  upon  him,  and  he 
gained  many  advantages  over  the  Austrians,  who  were  obliged  to 
entrench  themselves  in  a  favorable  position  and  await  reinforce- 
ments from  Germany.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Mincio  are  the 
four  fortresses — Peschiera,  Mantua,  Verona,  and  Legnano — which 
occupy,  so  to  say,  the  four  angles  of  a  quadrilateral.  General 
Radetzky  withdrew  into  the  Quadrilateral,  issuing  out  from  time  to 
time  to  harass  the  Piedmontese.  But  Peschiera  was  besieged  by 
them  and  taken,  and  they  advanced  on  Verona.  Radetzky,  who 
had  received  reinforcements,  came  out  to  meet  them,  and  after 
several  battles  at  last  got  the  upper  hand  at  Custozza,  1848,  and 
followed  the  Piedmontese  army  up  to  Milan,  where  the  king  deter- 
mined to  fight  anew.  But  the  people  of  Milan  took  a  hostile 
attitude,  so  that  he  withdrew  to  the  other  side  of  the  Ticino.  He 
then  returned  with  his  army  into  his  own  territory,  and  demanded 
an  armistice,  which  was  accordingly  granted.  Just  at  this  moment 
Austria  was  in  a  critical  state,  for  while  Lombardy  was  in  insurrec- 
tion and  the  Piedmontese  were  under  arms,  Bohemia  and  Vienna 
were  also  in  revolt,  and  were  demanding  a  new  constitution. 
Charles  Albert,  to  terminate  the  strife,  offered  to  give  up  Lombardy 
as  far  as  the  Mincio,  but  his  ministers,  elated  by  the  successes 
before  obtained,  refused,  and  required  both  Lombardy  and  Venetia 
to  be  ceded  to  them. 

Meantime  the  spring  of  T849  approached,  and  Charles  Albert, 


WAR     WITH     AUSTRIA  359 

1849 

having  lost  neither  courage  nor  hope  of  victory,  sent  to  remind  the 
Austrians  that  the  armistice  was  come  to  an  end,  and  took  the  field 
once  more  with  a  force  of  about  100,000  men.  With  this  force  he 
advanced  toward  the  Ticino  to  meet  the  enemy,  when  General 
Ramorino,  whose  duty  it  was  to  defend  the  river  wherever  the 
Austrians  could  seek  a  passage,  carelessly  let  them  pass  over.  Hav- 
ing thus  cut  the  Piedmontese  forces  in  twain,  the  enemy  under 
the  command  of  Radetzky  marched  against  the  main  wing,  which 
was  stationed  near  Novara. 

There  the  two  armies  met.  Several  skirmishes  ensued,  which 
were  in  the  main  favorable  to  the  Piedmontese,  but  on  the  third 
day  (March  23,1849)3  pitched  battle  was  fought  at  a  village  called 
Bicocca,  near  Novara.  There  the  fight  was  maintained  from  early 
morning  vigorously  on  both  sides,  but  at  about  eleven  o'clock  the 
Austrians  attacked  the  whole  Piedmontese  line  with  the  greatest 
fury.  The  brigade  of  Savona,  which  led  the  van,  was  suddenly 
driven  in,  but  being  reinforced  by  the  brigade  of  Savoy,  it  recov- 
ered lost  ground  and  drove  the  enemy  back.  From  this  moment  the 
fight  became  general  on  every  side.  Musketry,  artillery,  every 
species  of  arm  pressed  forward  to  the  encounter.  The  reserves 
under  the  lead  of  the  Duke  of  Genoa  advanced  to  sustain  the  attack 
of  the  enemy,  who  already  began  to  waver.  The  young  prince 
exhibited  wonderful  courage  and  when  several  horses  had  been 
killed  under  him,  continued  to  fight  on  foot.  But  his  efforts  were 
unavailing,  and  the  Piedmontese  were  beaten;  night  came  on,  and 
the  field  of  battle  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Austrians.  Charles 
Albert  showed  the  utmost  bravery  and  courage  throughout  the  day, 
but  when  he  saw  that  the  battle  was  lost,  he  assembled  the  chiefs  of 
the  army  and  spoke  as  follows :  "  As  I  can  this  day  neither  save 
Italy  nor  die  as  a  soldier,  my  obligation  to  my  country  is  ended.  I 
can  no  longer  render  any  service  to  my  subjects,  to  whose  happiness 
I  have  devoted  eighteen  years  of  my  life,  and  therefore  I  lay  down 
my  crown  and  place  it  upon  the  head  of  my  son  and  successor."  In 
spite  of  every  attempt  to  persuade  the  king  to  desist  from  this 
purpose,  no  one  could  shake  his  determination.  "  I  thank  you  all," 
he  added,  "  for  the  services  you  have  rendered  to  the  state,  as  well 
as  to  myself  personally,  but  I  am  no  longer  king ;  your  king  is  now 
my  son,  Victor  Emmanuel." 

After  this  event  Charles  Albert,  oppressed  with  grief,  and 
accompanied  by  one  single  servant,  retired  to  Oporto,  and  there, 


360  ITALY 

1849 

suffering  under  the  weight  of  misfortune  and  an  old  disease,  died 
on  July  26,  1849.  The  cause  of  the  discomfiture  at  Novara 
is  attributed  mainly  to  the  fault  of  General  Ramorino,  who  was 
brought  before  a  council  of  war  and  condemned  to  lose  his  life. 
This,  then,  terminated  the  first  war  of  independence,  and  Piedmont 
had  to  pay  down  72,000,000  francs  as  the  price  of  peace.  In  1848 
also  occurred  another  revolution  in  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  for  a 
time  a  constitution  was  put  in  force,  but  within  a  few  months  King 
Ferdinand  was  able  to  overthrow  it  and  to  restore  despotism  once 
more  in  full  vigor. 


Chapter   XLVI 

POPE   PIUS    IX.   AND   THE   ROMAN    REPUBLIC.     1848-1859 

WHILE  all  these  misfortunes  were  being  experienced  in 
Piedmont,  grave  disasters  were  also  preparing  for 
Rome.  We  have  already  hinted  that  when  Pius  IX. 
came  to  the  throne,  and  manifested  liberal  intentions  in  regard  to 
the  political  state  of  Italy,  every  country  was  loud  in  his  praise. 
And  when  at  last  the  amnesty  was  declared,  the  transports  of  joy 
and  applause  among  the  people  seemed  to  have  no  bounds.  Thou- 
sands of  exiles  returning  to  their  families  prostrated  themselves  at 
his  feet.  These  manifestations  of  esteem  and  love  at  first  inspired 
the  pontiff  with  many  lofty  designs,  because  he  looked  upon  them 
all  as  signs  of  personal  attachment.  And,  no  doubt,  in  the  majority 
of  cases  they  were  perfectly  sincere;  but  neither  the  Pope  nor  his 
subjects  realized  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  constitutional  papal 
state.  "  The  slightest  concession  of  an  electoral  right,  be  it  only 
for  a  municipal  council,  ...  at  once  set  up  a  subject's  judg- 
ment against  the  sovereign's,  a  human  judgment  against  the  divine. 
Nor  was  there  any  loophole  of  escape  from  this  terrible  dilemma 
by  devising  any  reasonable,  or  even  arbitrary,  distinction  to  sepa- 
rate the  ecclesiastical  from  the  material  questions  that  concerned 
the  life  of  the  people.  An  instant's  reflection  will  show  that  at 
every  point  there  was  a  close  association  and  intermingling  that 
made  such  a  distinction  a  practical  impossibility."  1 

Many  of  those  who  had  been  busy  with  the  revolution  for  some 
years  before,  now  betook  themselves  to  Rome  in  order  to  induce 
the  Pope  to  declare  war  against  the  Austrians.  His  answer  was 
equivocal.  "  Go,"  said  he  to  the  soldiers  who  went  out  to  appease 
the  tumults  which  were  excited  in  various  cities  of  the  Romagna, 
"but  do  not  pass  beyond  the  frontiers  of  our  states."  On  another 
occasion  he  said :  "  We  comprehend  your  lively  desire  to  induce 
me  to  declare  war  in  order  to  drive  foreign  troops  out  of  Italy ; 

1  Johnston,  "The  Roman  Theocracy  and  the  Republic,"  p.  56. 

361 


362  ITALY 

1848 

but  let  all  the  world  know  that  we  love  the  independence  of  Italy 
too  well  to  imperil  it  by  such  a  measure." 

The  result,  however,  was  that  the  soldiers  went  to  fight  against 
the  Austrians  in  Lombardy.  But  their  courage  was  useless,  and 
they  had  to  return  to  Rome  after  having  suffered  great  discomfiture. 
Then  the  cry  was  raised  higher  than  ever,  that  the  Pope  should 
declare  war  against  the  Austrians,  and  the  popular  riot  came  to 
such  a  pitch  that  threats  were  thrown  out  about  forming  a  pro- 
visional government  in  the  city,  whether  the  Pope  agreed  or  not. 

Pius  IX.  did  not  give  way  to  these  threats;  and  when  he  saw 
that  several  members  of  the  Chambers,  and  even  some  of  the  min- 
istry, favored  the  discontents,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  select  a 
wise  and  courageous  man  to  whom  he  might  confide  the  presidency 
of  his  own  government.  This  president  was  to  be  at  the  head  of 
the  ministry,  and  have  the  power  of  proposing  to  the  sovereign  and 
to  the  chambers  any  laws  he  should  think  necessary  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  state. 

The  person  whom  the  Pope  adjudged  to  be  the  most  proper 
for  this  office  was  a  certain  Count  Pellegrino  Rossi.  He  was  a 
native  of  Carrara,  a  man  of  prudent,  penetrating  mind,  and  to  a 
knowledge  of  classical  literature  added  a  sound  acquaintance  with 
jurisprudence  and  philosophy.  He  had  completed  his  studies  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  but  being  compromised  by  his  political  tendencies 
had  been  obliged  to  absent  himself  from  his  country.  In  all  the 
different  places  which  he  passed  through  he  manifested  great  ability 
in  the  management  of  important  affairs,  especially  in  France,  from 
which  country  he  was  now  sent  as  ambassador  to  the  court  of 
Rome.  When,  however,  on  his  return  to  Italy,  he  perceived  that 
things  were  taking  a  sinister  aspect,  he  retired  to  private  life,  until 
the  pontiff  raised  him  to  the  office  of  president,  in  order  to  associate 
him  with  his  own  efforts  to  repress  the  disorders  of  his  states. 
Rossi  hesitated  to  accept  this  charge,  and  when  one  of  his  friends 
was  urging  him  to  do  so,  he  put  to  him  the  following  question : 

"  My  friend,  you  have  always  counseled  me  well :  tell  me  what 
I  ought  to  do."  "  You  ought  to  accept  the  office."  "  But  it  is 
a  most  dangerous  position."  "  Reason  the  more  to  take  it,  and 
be  sure  that  Providence  will  protect  you."  "  His  will  then  be  done!  " 
Then  shaking  him  by  the  hand,  he  added,  "  On  your  advice  I  pro- 
ceed," and  going  to  the  Pope,  he  at  once  accepted  the  office.  "  Rossi, 
as  a  vigorous  and  independent  reformer,  was  as  much  detested 


POPE     PIUS     IX.  363 

1848 

in  clerical  and  reactionary  circles  as  he  was  by  the  demagogues  and 
their  followers."  2 

From  that  instant  the  new  minister  set  himself  courageously 
to  arrange  the  affairs  of  Rome,  and  while  he  exerted  himself  for 
the  civil  reorganization  of  the  state  he  opened  negotiations  in 
Naples,  Florence,  and  Turin  to  form  the  basis  of  a  national  con- 
federation of  the  Italian  states.  The  revolutionists  saw  that  Rossi 
was  aiming  at  the  establishment  of  law  and  order  on  its  present 
basis,  and  feeling  themselves  no  match  for  him  in  activity  and  skill 
in  political  affairs,  they  took  the  monstrous  resolution  of  having 
him  assassinated. 

Count  Rossi  was  not  ignorant  of  this  project,  and  well  compre- 
hended the  opposition  existing  between  himself  and  the  secret 
societies,  which  ended  so  often  in  assassination.  But  notwithstand- 
ing this,  he  never  flinched,  because  from  the  moment  he  had  yielded 
to  the  invitation  of  Pius  IX.  he  considered  that  he  had  sacrificed 
his  life  to  the  cause. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  Chambers,  which  met 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  long  delayed  constitution 
issued  by  Pius  March  10,  1848,  which  transformed  the  papal  des- 
potism into  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the  count  gave  the  proper 
orders,  so  that  the  carbineers  and  soldiers  should  remain  firm  to 
their  duties,  and  ready  to  execute  all  the  commands  given  them. 
But  he  was  told  in  reply  that  they  would  not  depart  from  their  first 
orders  for  any  others  sent  to  them  by  him  or  even  by  the  Pope 
himself.  To  which  he  courageously  answered,  "  I  will  not  give  up 
any  measures  necessary  to  defend  the  rights  of  the  Holy  See;  if 
occasion  require,  I  will  myself  mount  my  horse  and  fight  against 
the  factious.  To  reach  the  Pope  they  will  have  to  pass  over  my 
own  body." 

On  this  the  fury  of  the  conspirators  knew  no  limits,  and  they 
abstained  from  no  kind  of  injury  or  violence,  so  that  they  might 
excite  hatred  against  him.  The  plot  was  laid,  and  it  was  fixed  that 
the  count  should  be  killed  in  the  very  act  of  going  to  the  Chambers. 
On  the  arrival  of  that  memorable  day,  November  15,  1848,  at 
seven  in  the  morning,  his  two  sons  came  to  ask  for  tickets  to  hear 
the  debates.  "  I  have  none,"  he  replied.  "  How  is  it,"  said  the 
elder  one,  "that  the  first  minister  has  no  tickets?  We  must  find 
other  means  of  penetrating  into  the  Chambers."  "  This  I  forbid 
you!"     "But  why  so?"  they  replied.     "Because  it  is  my  will. 

2  Fyffe,  "'  Modern   Europe,"  p.   771. 


364  ITALY 

1848 

You  remain  at  your  mother's  side."  Count  Rossi  said  this  be- 
cause he  presaged  some  grave  event  in  the  Chambers.  The  plot, 
however,  could  not  be  so  secret  but  that  some  news  of  it  got  abroad, 
and  several  of  Rossi's  friends  wrote  to  him ;  others  went  to  warn 
him  of  the  great  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed. 

Arrived  at  the  palace  where  the  deputies  were  assembled, 
he  saw  that,  in  opposition  to  the  orders  issued,  there  was  not  a 
single  carbineer  to  mount  guard  at  the  door,  but  that  a  body  of 
civic  guards  had  replaced  them.  At  the  entrance  of  the  court  there 
was  a  company  of  about  sixty  men  covered  with  black  cloaks. 
These  all  saluted  the  minister  coldly,  but  kept  perfect  silence. 
Hardly  had  he  dismounted  from  the  carriage  and  advanced  toward 
the  crowd,  when  a  man  of  middle  age,  with  a  white  beard,  tapped 
him  with  a  stick  upon  one  shoulder.  This  was  the  agreed  signal. 
Rossi  turned  his  head  to  see  who  might  be  the  aggressor,  and  at 
the  same  moment  an  assassin  buried  his  dagger  in  his  neck.  The 
minister  fell  without  raising  a  cry,  but  at  once  rose  again,  put  a 
handkerchief  over  the  wound,  and  smiling  at  his  servant,  ascended 
mechanically  the  first  steps  of  the  staircase,  which  were  bathed 
with  blood.    Then  immediately  he  fell,  never  to  rise  again. 

The  news  of  the  assassination  was  brought  into  the  Chambers 
during  the  sitting,  which,  however,  went  on  tranquilly  discussing 
affairs  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  even  wmile  the  body  of  the 
president  was  lying  in  a  room  close  by.  A  portion  of  the  deputies 
were  no  doubt  accomplices  in  the  evil  deed.  The  French  ambas- 
sador, the  Duke  of  Arcourt,  horrified  by  the  indifference  with 
which  the  house  received  the  news  of  so  atrocious  a  murder,  left 
the  house  in  indignation,  saying,  "  Infamous !  let  us  depart  and 
not  appear  to  share  in  this  horrible  indifference."  In  such  wise 
was  the  assassination  of  Count  Rossi — an  act  committed  in  the 
open  day,  and  under  the  very  eyes  of  those  who  wrere  bound  in 
honor  to  defend  him. 

After  the  assassination  of  Count  Rossi,  things  went  from  bad 
to  worse.  The  Pope,  who  had  been  charmed  at  the  popularity  won 
by  his  reforms,  wished  to  go  no  farther;  but  he  had  no  settled 
policy,  except  to  resist  the  ever-increasing  demands  of  the  people. 
A  priest  named  Ximenes,  who  one  day  defended  the  cause  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  was  another  victim.  A  crowd  of  insurgents,  scour- 
ing the  piazzas,  next  assaulted  the  Quirinal,  then  occupied  as  the 
palace  of  the  Pope,  making  demands  which  the  Pope  would  not 


POPE     PIUS     IX.  365 

1848 

concede.  He  was,  in  short,  besieged  in  his  own  house,  his  guards 
removed,  cannon  pointed  to  the  entrance,  and  a  general  sack  was 
threatened.  Monsignore  Palma,  who  was  in  a  room  adjoining  the 
Pope,  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball,  and  fell  dead  on  the  spot. 

One  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  scene  was  Joseph  Galletti. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  barber  in  Bologna,  and  for  some  time  followed 
that  business,  until  his  father,  perceiving  his  son's  inclination  for 
study,  sent  him  to  school.  As  a  scholar  he  made  good  progress,  and 
became  a  skillful  advocate.  But,  being  tired  of  study  and  books, 
he  went  into  the  army,  and  distinguished  himself  on  various  occa- 
sions by  his  firmness  and  courage.  Being  compromised  in  the 
political  affairs  of  183 1,  he  went  abroad,  and  after  ten  years'  ab- 
sence returned  to  promote  the  cause  of  the  revolution.  In  Rome 
he  was  arrested  and  condemned  to  the  galleys  for  life,  but  the 
sentence  passed  upon  him  was  commuted  to  imprisonment  within 
the  Roman  states.  But  the  amnesty  of  Pius  IX.  now  set  him  at 
liberty,  for  which  act  of  grace  he  expressed  the  most  unbounded 
gratitude.  Carried  away,  however,  by  the  present  events,  and  by 
his  attachment  to  the  principles  of  the  revolution,  Galletti  again 
became  a  leader  among  the  insurgents.  Pius  IX.  not  being  able 
to  make  head  against  the  revolution,  and  being  virtually  a  prisoner 
in  his  own  palace,  decided  to  escape  from  Rome.  On  the  evening 
of  November  24,  1848,  the  night  being  dark  and  the  weather 
inclement,  the  Pope  changed  his  dress,  put  on  black  shoes  with 
silver  buckles,  dark  trousers,  a  black  waistcoat,  and  a  large  round 
hat.  In  this  disguise,  carrying  a  lantern  in  one  hand,  and  accom- 
panied by  a  single  servant,  he  went  out  by  a  secret  door,  and  having 
passed  along  various  corridors,  succeeded  in  eluding  the  vigilance 
of  the  guards  who  stood  round  the  palace.  At  an  appointed  spot 
he  met  Count  Spauro,  ambassador  of  the  King  of  Bavaria,  who 
received  him  into  his  carriage.  The  carriage  left  Rome  at  a  rapid 
pace,  and  by  dint  of  a  frequent  change  of  horses  and  postillions 
they  were  driven  over  the  frontiers  of  the  Roman  states  and 
arrived  safely  at  Gaeta.  There  they  found  Cardinal  Antonelli  and 
others  who  had  come  to  assist  the  Pope  in  the  present  embarrassed 
state  of  affairs. 

On  the  morrow,  when  the  flight  of  the  Pope  was  known  in 
Rome,  everything  was  thrown  into  confusion.  The  papal  adherents 
feared  the  consequences  of  this  sudden  departure;  the  indifferent 
were   astounded,   because   they   had   no   expectation   of   any   such 


366  I  T  A  L  Y 

1848-1849 

measure  being  taken ;  and  some  hoped  that  now  at  length  the 
Roman  Catholic  powers  would  interfere  to  reestablish  the  pontiff 
on  his  throne.    The  revolutionists  alone  were  filled  with  exultation. 

To  accomplish  the  purpose  they  had  in  view — that,  namely, 
of  proclaiming  a  republic — they  began  by  forming  a  provisional 
government,  which  was  termed  the  Junta.  The  municipal  body, 
seeing  things  arrive  at  this  pass,  dissolved  itself,  and  refused  to 
take  any  part  in  the  affair.  The  Chambers  did  the  same,  and  within 
a  few  days  most  of  the  leading  men  in  the  government  relinquished 
their  posts. 

Meantime  things  became  worse  and  worse,  and  a  state  of  com- 
plete anarchy  appeared  to  be  imminent.  It  was  then  that  Galletti, 
president  of  the  new  assembly  (which  called  itself  the  Roman 
Constituent),  after  having  discussed  in  several  sittings  the  form 
of  government  which  should  be  adopted,  proposed  and  signed  the 
following  decree :  "  The  Papacy  has  fallen  de  facto  and  de  jure 
from  being  the  head  of  the  Roman  states.  The  national  government 
will  now  take  the  glorious  name  of  the  Roman  Republic."  This 
decree  was  dated  February  9,  1849. 

The  revolutionists  of  Tuscany,  led  by  Mazzini,  the  chief  of  the 
party,  also  proclaimed  a  republic.  Mazzini  for  this  purpose  left 
Florence  for  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with  acclamation.  As 
the  republic  had  already  been  proclaimed,  and  three  chiefs  were 
to  be  appointed  at  its  head,  he  was  named  Triumvir  in  connection 
with  two  others,  named  Armellini  and  Saffi. 

The  Roman  states  were  now  in  the  greatest  disorder.  Many 
of  the  most  influential  citizens  remained  faithful  to  the  old  govern- 
ment, and  not  a  few  of  the  cities  and  villages  throughout  the  states 
refused  to  yield  allegiance  to  the  new  republic.  The  Pope  received 
large  supplies  from  the  faithful,  and  the  King  of  Naples  showed 
the  greatest  solicitude  that  nothing  should  be  wanting  to  him  during 
his  exile.  No  sooner  did  this  prince  hear  that  the  Pope  had  fled 
to  Gaeta,  within  the  bounds  of  his  own  states,  than  he  went  imme- 
diately with  the  queen  and  the  royal  family  to  pay  him  their  respects 
and  offer  him  any  aid  that  lay  in  their  power. 

The  flight  of  the  Pope  from  his  dominions  was  an  event  of 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  powers  could  hardly  fail  to  take  cogni- 
zance. Spain  was  the  first  to  make  an  open  manifestation  on  the 
subject,  which  it  did  by  sending  the  following  missive  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  powers: 


POPE     PIUS     IX.  367 

1849 

"  The  Government  of  Spain  has  decided  to  do  whatever  may 
be  necessary  to  place  the  Pope  once  more  in  a  condition  of  inde- 
pendence and  dignity,  so  that  he  may  be  able  to  perform  his  sacred 
functions.  For  this  purpose,  since  hearing  of  his  flight  from  Rome, 
the  Spanish  Government  has  made  application  to  France,  which 
country  has  also  declared  itself  ready  to  maintain  the  liberty  of 
the  holy  father.  Spain  believes  that  the  Roman  Catholic  powers 
cannot  abandon  the  liberty  of  the  Pope  to  the  caprice  of  the  city 
of  Rome,  or  permit  that,  while  other  nations  are  ready  to  show 
deep  respect  to  the  pontiff,  one  single  city  of  Italy  should  be  allowed 
to  outrage  his  dignity  or  place  him  in  a  condition  of  dependence 
which  it  might  at  any  time  take  advantage  of.  These  considerations 
induce  her  Majesty's  Government  to  invite  the  other  Roman  Cath- 
olic powers  to  consider  what  measures  ought  to  be  adopted  to  avoid 
the  evils  which  must  follow  if  things  are  allowed  to  remain  in  their 
present  state." 

France,  Portugal,  Austria,  Naples — all  responded  to  this  invi- 
tation from  Spain.  Only  Piedmont  and  Tuscany  refused  to 
join  this  union  of  the  Roman  Catholic  powers,  in  consequence  of 
internal  dissensions. 

The  allied  powers  having  vainly  employed  all  pacific  means, 
now  determined  to  intervene  by  force  of  arms  to  bring  order  into 
the  papal  states,  and  reconduct  Pius  IX.  to  his  throne.  The 
French  were  the  first  to  get  under  arms  and  appear  on  the  scene. 
While  the  French  army  was  putting  to  sea,  the  Austrians  advanced 
on  the  side  of  Lombardy  to  secure  order  in  Tuscany  and  the  Ro- 
magna.  The  Neapolitans  undertook  to  repress  all  outbreaks  on  the 
confines  of  that  kingdom,  while  the  Spaniards  came  later  and  held 
themselves  as  a  reserve  force  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  The 
French  only  marched  to  Rome,  the  center  of  hostilities. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place,  the  heads  of  the  repub- 
lican party  prepared  to  make  a  desperate  resistance.  Garibaldi, 
a  famous  soldier  of  fortune,  came  to  their  aid  at  the  head  of  1500 
picked  men,  who  were  received  with  enthusiasm  by  those  who  were 
at  the  head  of  the  government  of  Rome. 

The  French,  despite  their  courage,  had  to  combat  more  than 
three  months  around  the  walls  of  Rome  before  they  could  enter  the 
city.  Many  times  they  attempted  to  take  it  by  assault,  but  were 
driven  back  by  the  besieged  with  great  loss.  Finally,  on  June  29, 
they  overcame  the  barricades  of  the  enemy,  and  by  a  desperate 


368  ITALY 

1849-1850 

effort  entered  the  city  and  obliged  the  revolutionists  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  July  3. 

The  heads  of  the  revolution,  now  losing1  all  hope,  were  obliged 
to  abandon  Rome ;  and  Oudinot,  the  commander-in-chief,  imme- 
diately sent  the  keys  of  the  city  to  Pope  Pius  IX.  and  set  himself  to 
work  to  restore  order  and  tranquillity.  No  stipulation  had,  how- 
ever, been  made  with  the  Pope  during  the  siege  as  to  the  future 
institutions  of  Rome,  and  when  on  July  14,  the  restoration  of  papal 
authority  was  formally  announced  by  Oudinot,  Pius  and  his  min- 
ister, Antonelli,  still  remained  unfettered  by  any  binding  engage- 
ment.3 

Congratulations  were  poured  in  from  every  quarter  upon 
General  Oudinot  for  his  deliverance  of  Rome.  One  day,  seeing  a 
large  number  of  ecclesiastics,  led  by  Cardinal  Castranace,  coming  to 
congratulate  him,  he  received  them  warmly,  and  replied  to  their 
address  in  the  following  words : 

"  Signori,  I  thank  you  in  the  name  of  France  and  of  the  army 
for  your  good  wishes.  As  for  myself,  I  am  well  rewarded  in  having 
sustained  the  military  honor  of  my  country,  and  in  having  reestab- 
lished order  and  tranquillity;  and  I  am  especially  rejoiced  in  having 
rendered  a  service  to  the  church,  and  to  you  who  have  had  so  much 
to  suffer  in  these  sorrowful  days  just  passed.  Now  we  will  all  work 
together  to  blot  out  the  memory  of  these  calamities  and  restore 
order  to  the  state.  Your  long  experience  of  the  country  is  especially 
valuable  to  me.  I  count  upon  your  aid  and  your  light.  The  army 
and  the  clergy  are  the  two  great  means  of  safety  for  the  future." 

Amid  the  great  joy  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities,  as 
well  as  of  General  Oudinot  and  the  army,  a  solemn  Tc  Dcum  was 
then  chanted ;  and  when  the  pontifical  army  was  again  seen 
approaching,  there  was  one  cry  of  delight  from  all  present. 

When  the  keys  of  the  city  were  put  into  the  hands  of  Pius  IX., 
he  knew  then  that  Rome  and  the  Roman  states  were  again  placed 
under  the  power  of  the  legitimate  sovereign,  and  that  he  could  once 
more  ascend  the  throne.  This  result  was  the  more  pleasing,  and 
appeared  to  be  the  more  secure  and  lasting,  inasmuch  as  things  had 
been  brought  into  order  in  Piedmont,  where  Victor  Emmanuel  had 
now  become  king;  while  the  Austrians,  after  having  fought  against 
the  revolution  in  many  of  the  Roman  cities,  had  succeeded  in  put- 
ting it  down  in  Tuscany,  and  restoring  the  Grand  Duke  Leopold  to 
his  dominions.  How  little  was  it  then  surmised  that  within  a  few 
3  Fyffe,  "  Modern  Europe,"  p.  779. 


POPE     PIUS     IX.  369 

1850-1859 

years  the  power  of  the  reinstated  sovereigns  would  crumble  beneath 
their  feet;  that  Garibaldi,  driven  from  Rome  by  the  French  bay- 
onets, would  reenter  Naples  as  a  conqueror;  and  that  Victor 
Emmanuel,  himself  heading  the  revolution,  would  be  proclaimed 
king  of  a  united  Italy. 

The  French,  after  having  reseated  the  Pope  once  more  upon 
his  throne,  returned  in  part  to  their  own  country,  leaving,  how- 
ever, a  garrison  in  Rome  sufficient  to  quell  any  disorders  that 
might  afterward  arise.  The  Austrhns  also  continued  to  keep  their 
eye  upon  the  papal  states  on  the  Lombard  side.  Consequently, 
from  the  return  of  the  Pope  to  Rome  down  to  the  year  1859  there 
were  no  political  events  of  any  consequence  which  took  place 
throughout  Italy  generally.  The  events  that  followed  were  of 
minor  importance,  yet  sufficiently  grave  to  merit  some  attention. 
The  first  we  shall  relate  is  the  assassination  of  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
by  name  Ferdinand  Charles  III.,  who  "  renewed  the  traditions  of 
his  house  by  an  arbitrary  and  dissolute  regime."  4 

On  the  evening  of  March  26,  1854,  this  prince  was  return- 
ing from  a  short  stroll  to  his  palace.  Just  as  he  got  to  an  angle 
of  the  street,  some  unknown  person  who  was  standing  in  am- 
buscade knocked  against  him,  and  an  instant  after,  plunged  a 
dagger  into  his  bosom,  and  fled,  leaving  the  dagger  in  the  wound. 
The  duke  fell  as  though  dead ;  his  adjutant  raised  him  up  and  drew 
the  dagger  away  from  the  body,  and  thus  he  was  carried  amid  a 
crowd  of  bystanders  to  his  palace.  The  wound  was  pronounced  to 
be  mortal,  and  the  prince  was  evidently  in  imminent  peril  of  his 
life.  Being  asked  if  he  knew  who  the  assassin  was,  he  said :  "  This 
person  is  certainly  not  one  belonging  to  Parma :  he  has  been  follow- 
ing me  for  three  days.  I  have  seen  him  standing  in  front  of  me,  at 
my  back,  and  at  my  side;  but  I  pardon  him  from  my  heart.  God's 
will  be  done!  I  receive  my  death  in  penitence  for  my  sins.''  He 
expired  twenty-three  hours  after,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one.  leaving 
as  heir  a  son  six  years  of  age  under  the  regency  of  his  mother. 

Some  months  after  this  a  great  calamity  spread  itself  all 
through  Italy,  namely,  the  invasion  of  the  Asiatic  cholera.  A  large 
part  of  the  country  was  desolated  by  this  plague.  In  the  year  1855 
the  same  disease  returned,  but  not  with  the  same  degree  of  viru- 
lence. The  number  of  deaths  was  fearful.  Another  scourge  which 
appeared  about  this  time  was  the  vine  disease,  called  critogama, 
which  afflicted  many  parts  of  the  country,  but  especially  Piedmont. 
*  W.  J.  Stillman,  "  The  Union  of  Italy,"  p.  196. 


370  ITALY 

1855-1859 

This  disease  showed  itself  by  the  appearance  of  very  minute  in- 
sects, which  covered  the  young  leaves  as  though  with  an  ash-dust. 
From  the  leaves  they  passed  to  the  young  fruit,  preventing  it  from 
growing  and  maturing.  For  fifteen  years  the  country  was  visited 
by  this  calamity,  until  it  was  discovered  that  a  sprinkling  of  sulphur 
prevented  the  infection. 

At  the  beginning  of  1855  Piedmont  suffered  an  affliction  such 
as  cannot  be  paralleled  in  the  whole  history  of  Italy.  Within  a  very 
brief  period  five  persons  of  the  royal  house  of  Savoy  died,  among 
whom  were  the  queen,  Maria  Theresa,  mother  of  Victor  Emmanuel, 
and  Adelaide,  the  queen-consort.  All  good  citizens  bewailed  their 
loss,  but  the  poor  were  inconsolable,  for  these  royal  matrons  were 
called  the  mothers  of  the  poor,  and  indeed  there  was  no  kind  of  mis- 
ery which  they  were  not  ready  to  succor.  Hardly  were  their  obse- 
quies performed  when  the  Duke  of  Genoa,  he  who  had  fought  so 
bravely  in  the  war  of  independence,  was  struck  down.  A  few 
months  before  one  of  the  king's  sons  had  died,  and  soon  after  a 
second  son  was  carried  to  his  tomb. 


Chapter    XLVII 

GROWTH    OF    ITALIAN    UNITY.     1 849-1861 

THE  ten  years  which  followed  the  conclusion  of  the  wars 
we  have  above  narrated  were  not  marked  by  any  internal 
commotions.  Piedmont,  under  the  reign  of  Victor  Em- 
manuel and  the  guidance  of  her  greatest  statesman,  Count  Cavour, 
went  steadily  forward  consolidating  her  power  and  extending  her 
influence.  To  take  her  proper  place  also  among  the  other  European 
powers,  Piedmont  allied  herself  with  France  and  England  in  the 
war  against  Russia,  which  ended  in  the  taking  of  Sebastopol,  and 
the  opening  of  the  Black  Sea  to  the  commercial  enterprise  of 
Europe.  The  Piedmontese  contingent  of  20,000  men  under  Gen- 
eral La  Marmora  aided  greatly  in  the  victory  which  the  allies 
gained  over  the  Russians  on  the  River  Tchernaya,  and  reaped  its 
full  share  of  glory  in  the  whole  of  that  remarkable  war.  But  the 
peace  concluded  in  1849  between  Piedmont  and  Austria  after  the 
disastrous  battle  of  Novara  was  rather  an  armistice  than  a  peace 
properly  so  called,  for  the  animosities  on  either  side  remained  too 
great  to  allow  any  hope  of  a  real  reconciliation.  The  chief  cause  of 
the  rancor  was  the  idea  constantly  kept  up  of  making  Italy  into 
one  united  kingdom.  Austria  well  knew  the  working  of  this  idea, 
and  lived  in  continual  fear  of  being  molested  in  the  possession  of 
Lombardy  and  Venice.  These  two  provinces  were  in  continual 
agitation,  and  therefore  guarded  by  a  large  number  of  armed  men, 
ready  at  every  emergency  to  keep  order  and  to  defend  themselves 
in  case  of  attack.  "  With  the  great  work  of  Italian  unification  four 
names  will  to  all  time  be  connected  in  inseparable  association 
.  .  Mazzini,  Cavour,  Garibaldi  .  .  .  and  Victor  Emmanuel, 
the  first  King  of  United  Italy."  x 

But  what  had  been  working  for  ten  years  as  a  mere  idea,  be- 
gan about  the  end  of  the  year  1858  to  take  a  more  substantial  form. 
In  the  powerful  armaments  which  Austria  was  making  in  the 
Lombardo-Venetian  territory,  Piedmont  could  see  nothing  but  a 
threatening  of  war,  and  began  to  arm  herself  in  opposition.    Mean- 

1  Marriott,  "  Makers  of  Modern  Italy,"  pp.  3  and  4 
371 


372  ITALY 

1858-1859 

time  the  report  became  more  widely  accredited  that  an  attempt 
would  really  be  made  to  release  this  territory  from  the  Austrian 
rule.  Still,  so  far,  it  was  only  hearsay.  The  beginning  of  the  war 
may  be  really  dated  from  some  words  spoken  by  Napoleon  III.  to 
Baron  Hiibner,  Austrian  ambassador  in  Paris,  in  his  reception  on 
January  I,  1859.  In  these  words  some  only  saw  a  simple  re- 
monstrance with  Austria,  but  others  took  them  as  in  indication 
of  war,  and  facts  soon  showed  that  these  had  not  deceived  them- 
selves. From  that  moment  Austria  began  greatly  to  augment  her 
forces  in  Italy.  Piedmont  in  like  manner  began  to  arm  herself 
vigorously,  and  France,  giving  no  further  account  of  the  reasons 
which  were  influencing  her  policy,  joined  with  Piedmont  against 
the  Austrians.  According  to  the  informal  agreement  between 
Cavour  and  Napoleon  III.,  "  there  was  to  be  joint  war  with  Aus- 
tria :  Italy  was  to  be  free  '  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic '  and  as 
the  price  of  French  assistance,  Savoy  and  Nice  were  to  be  '  re- 
united '  to  France.  It  was  a  heavy  price  to  pay,  but  it  bought 
eventually  much  more  than  Napoleon  intended.  It  bought  the 
union  of  Italy."  2  While  these  warlike  preparations  were  going  on 
an  attempt  was  made  to  assemble  a  congress  of  the  great  powers  to 
arrange  the  affairs  of  Italy  without  bloodshed,  but  it  proved  a 
failure.  England  also  made  proposals  for  reconciliation,  but  they 
did  not  obtain  any  more  success  than  that  of  the  congress.  In  the 
speech  from  the  throne,  January  10,  1859,  King  Victor  Emmanuel 
said:  "'The  situation  is  not  exempt  from  danger,  for,  while  re- 
specting treaties  we  cannot  disregard  the  cry  of  grief  (grido  di 
dolor c)  which  rises  to  us  from  so  many  parts  of  Italy.  Strong  in 
union,  confident  in  our  right,  we  await  with  prudence  and  resolu- 
tion the  decrees  of  Providence.'  The  speech  was  enthusiastically 
applauded  in  the  assembly:  it  echoed  throughout  Europe."3 

Accordingly,  on  April  23,  Austria  threatened  to  invade  Pied- 
mont unless  she  agreed  within  three  days  to  a  general  disarmament, 
and  on  her  refusal  to  do  this  war  was  formally  declared  on  April 
27,  1859.  On  the  very  same  day  French  troops  began  to  arrive  in 
Genoa,  while  others  began  to  march  into  Italy  by  way  of  Mont 
Cenis.  The  first  generals  of  France  led  the  troops  and  Napoleon 
put  himself  at  their  head. 

The  Austrians  passed  the  Ticino  on  April  29,  and  advanced 
toward  Mortara,  Novara.  and  Vercelli,  limiting  themselves  to  levy- 
2  Stillman  "  The  Union  of  Italy,"  p.  285.     8  Stillman,  Ibid.  p.  287. 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY  373 

1859 

ing  imposts  of  food,  cattle,  and  money  in  the  places  through 
which  they  passed.  Then  after  a  slight  skirmish  at  Fassineto,  on 
the  Po,  near  Casale,  the  enemy  advanced  on  to  Tortona,  Voghera, 
and  Biella,  but  no  real  battle  took  place  before  May  20.  On 
that  day  there  was  a  sharp  combat  at  Montebello,  near  Casteg- 
gio,  and  a  short  distance  from  the  Po,  in  which  the  Austrians 
were  worsted.  On  May  30,  there  was  a  great  battle  at  Palestro, 
in  which  the  allies,  led  by  Victor  Emmanuel,  displayed  great 
courage  and  took  a  large  number  of  prisoners.  The  battle  of 
Magenta,  fought  on  June  4,  was  still  more  severe,  the  Austrians 
being  completely  routed,  leaving  many  dead  on  the  field  and 
many  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  allied  forces.  After  these 
successes  Victor  Emmanuel  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon  made 
their  entry  into  Milan  on  June  8.  The  next  day  they  gained  an- 
other victory  near  the  celebrated  village  of  Marignano.  But  the 
decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Solferino  and  San  Martino,  two  lit- 
tle villages  near  the  Mincio,  which  divides  Lombardy  from  the 
Venetian  territory.  The  battle  there  fought  was  such  as  reminds 
us  of  the  times  of  Aetius  and  Attila.  The  Emperor  Napoleon,  the 
King  of  Sardinia,  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria  commanded  their 
respective  armies  in  person.  The  fighting  began  at  Solferino  on 
June  24,  at  four  in  the  morning.  On  the  issue  of  this  battle  de- 
pended the  glory  or  the  disgrace  of  two  nations,  standing  as  they 
did  side  by  side.  The  Austrians  had  the  best  position,  and  were 
favored  by  the  nature  of  the  locality,  and  at  first  gained  various  ad- 
vantages, while  the  French  and  the  Piedmontese  suffered  great  loss. 
Up  to  three  o'clock  the  victory  seemed  to  lean  toward  the  side  of 
the  Austrians,  when  the  allies,  favored  by  a  violent  storm  which 
came  on,  assailed  the  enemy  with  so  much  vehemence  and  courage 
that  after  great  slaughter  the  victory  remained  in  their  hands. 

The  losses  were  frightful  on  both  sides.  The  enemy  had  to 
retire  across  the  Mincio  and  take  refuge  in  a  plain  defended  by  the 
four  fortresses  of  Mantua,  Peschiera,  Verona,  and  Legnano.  This 
formed  a  most  impregnable  position  against  any  further  attacks, 
and  the  allies,  though  hitherto  victorious,  thought  it  best  to  agree 
to  an  armistice  in  order  to  bury  the  dead,  tend  the  wounded,  and 
repair  the  devastation  occasioned  on  that  memorable  day.  "  At 
this  point  diplomacy  began  its  paralyzing  operations  and  Napoleon 
III.  .  .  .  halted  and  began  to  temporize."  His  victories  had 
been  hardly  won  and  he  was  appalled  at  the  loss  of  life;  then,  too. 


374.  ITALY 

1859 

Prussia  began  to  assume  a  hostile  attitude ;  but  probably  what  in- 
fluenced him  most  strongly  was  the  spread  of  revolutionary  move- 
ments in  Central  Italy,  looking  to  union  under  the  house  of  Savoy, 
threatening  the  Pope's  states,  and  thereby  arousing  the  Roman 
Catholic  party  in  France  to  urge  a  halt  on  Napoleon.  On  July  8 
the  armistice  of  Villafranca  was  concluded,  suspending  hostilities 
to  August  8. 

An  interview  was  therefore  arranged  with  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  at  Villafranca,  on  July  n,  at  which  were  signed  the  pre- 
liminaries of  a  peace  which  was  afterward  definitely  concluded 
at  Zurich.  The  most  important  points  of  the  treaty  were  these: 
The  Emperor  of  Austria  ceded  to  the  French  all  his  rights  over 
Lombardy,  except  the  fortresses  of  Mantua  and  Peschiera,  while 
the  Emperor  of  the  French  resigned  the  conquest  made  by  his 
arms  into  the  hands  of  the  King  of  Sardinia.  "  This  peace  .  .  . 
satisfied  nobody,  because  after  it,  as  before,  Italy  was  incom- 
plete." 4 

Thus  a  war  which  seemed  as  though  it  would  be  of  long  dura- 
tion terminated  when  least  expected,  and  the  sunshine  of  peace 
again  appeared.  The  French  having  achieved  a  glorious  victory, 
returned  to  their  country,  and  Piedmont  set  to  work  to  consolidate 
its  government  in  the  new  provinces.  The  aggrandizement  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sardinia,  however,  by  the  addition  of  Lombardy,  was 
counterbalanced  by  the  cession  of  Savoy  and  Nice  to  the  French 
Empire. 

Thus  ended  a  war  which,  while  it  gave  enlarged  dominion  to 
Italy,  was  far  from  realizing  the  first  promise  of  the  French  em- 
peror that  Italy  was  to  be  freed  from  all  foreign  domination  from 
sea  to  sea. 

The  Treaty  of  Villafranca  came  as  a  fearful  disappointment 
and  a  fatal  blow  to  all  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  Italian 
people.  They  had  relied  upon  the  promise  of  Napoleon  that  Italy 
should  be  free  from  sea  to  sea;  they  now  saw  that  the  brightest 
chance  that  had  ever  occurred  since  the  old  Roman  times  of  a  free 
and  united  country  had  suddenly  collapsed,  and  left  them  almost  in 
the  same  condition  as  they  were  before  the  war  began.  The  Treaty 
of  Zurich,  which  followed  soon  after,  did  not  at  all  improve  the 
prospect.  Lombardy,  it  is  true,  was  joined  to  the  kingdom  of 
Sardinia.  But  it  was  stipulated  that  Venetia  should  still  be  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  Austrians.    It  was  still  further  agreed  that  all  the 

4  Stillman,  "  The  Union  of  Italy,"  p.  293. 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY  875 

1859-1860 

legitimate  sovereigns  should  be  allowed  to  return  to  their  small 
principalities.  "  On  the  first  proclamation  of  the  war,  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany  had  been  compelled  to  fly  from  his  states,  .  .  . 
and  the  provisional  government  in  Florence,  previously  instituted 
under  Bettino  Ricasoli,  suddenly  averred  its  intention  of  uniting 
Tuscany  to  Piedmont.  .  .  .  The  duchies  of  Parma  and  Mo* 
dena  had  also  been  deserted  by  their  dukes,  and  the  papal  legates 
had  to  quit  Romagna,  whose  inhabitants  now  suddenly  announced 
their  fusion  with  Piedmont,  .  .  .  and  to  the  cry  of  *  Victor  Em- 
manuel/ the  Marches  and  Umbria  revolted  against  the  pontiff,  but 
in  these  regions  the  movement  was  sanguinely  repressed  by  the 
Swiss  troops."  5  It  was  also  agreed  that  a  confederation  of  states 
should  be  made  in  central  Italy,  of  which  the  Pope  was  to  be 
the  recognized  head.  There  was  one  stipulation,  however,  which 
seemed  still  to  open  a  door  of  hope  to  the  Italian  patriots,  and  that 
was  the  article  in  the  treaty  which  absolutely  forbade  a  foreign 
army  to  enter  any  of  the  Italian  states  for  the  sake  of  carrying  out 
its  provisions. 

But  the  Council  of  Zurich  had  now  decided  that  these  events 
were  to  be  wholly  disregarded,  and  the  reigning  families  all  re- 
instated in  their  dominions.  Had  such  a  compact  been  enforced  by 
military  power  on  the  part  of  France  and  Austria,  the  horizon 
would  have  appeared  dark  indeed,  and  the  aspirations  of  Italy  after 
unity  and  freedom  would  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud.  But  as  no 
force  could  now  be  employed  to  follow  up  the  decisions  of  the  con- 
ference, the  Piedmontese  government,  with  Rattazzi  at  the  head, 
quietly  pursued  their  purpose  of  annexation,  assimilating  the  laws 
and  institutions  in  all  the  different  states,  so  that  annexation  should 
come  before  the  political  world  of  Europe  as  a  fait  accompli.  Na- 
poleon wrote  letter  after  letter  to  urge  the  necessity  of  carrying  out 
the  programme  agreed  upon  by  the  powers,  but  to  no  effect;  so 
that,  wearied  with  the  effort  of  giving  useless  advice,  he  at  length 
recommended  a  European  congress  to  settle  the  whole  question, 
based,  however,  upon  the  condition  of  complete  non-intervention 
with  arms. 

At  this  juncture  Cavour  again  came  forward  to  preside  over 
the  councils  of  Piedmont,  for  he  had  been  so  outraged  by  the 
armistice  of  Villafranca  that  he  had  given  up  his  post  in  disgust 
when  the  king,  with  better  judgment,  had  bowed  to  the  sad  neces- 
sity of  accepting  the  terms  of  Napoleon.  With  the  extraordinary 
5  P.  Orsi,  '^Modern  Italy,"  pp.  264,  365. 


376  ITALY 

1890 

sagacity  with  which  he  was  endowed,  he  brought  over  France  and 
England  to  his  views;  and  showing  the  impossibility  of  forcing  the 
population  of  central  Italy  to  receive  again  the  reactionary  govern- 
ments which  they  had  expelled  from  their  respective  capitals,  unless, 
indeed,  by  the  application  of  military  force,  he  fell  back  upon  the 
idea  of  a  plebiscite  as  the  very  ground  on  which  Napoleon  himself 
laid  claim  to  his  own  position  as  Emperor  of  the  French. 

This  plebiscite  was  taken  on  the  nth  and  12th  of  March,  i860, 
the  choice  being  between  annexation  to  the  constitutional  kingdom 
of  Victor  Emmanuel  or  having  a  separate  government.  In  Bologna 
and  the  Romagna,  formerly  under  the  papal  rule,  there  were  202,- 
650  votes  for  annexation  and  245  for  separate  government.  In 
Modena  there  were  131,818  for  annexation,  and  213  for  the  con- 
trary. In  Parma  there  were  91,466  votes  for  annexation  and  209 
for  a  separate  rule.  Lastly,  in  Tuscany,  where  the  feeling  for  re- 
taining the  independence  of  the  duchy  was  supposed  to  be  strong, 
there  were  386,445  voices  for  annexation  and  only  14,925  for 
separation.  All  Europe  was  astonished  at  this  result,  and  began  at 
length  to  comprehend  the  strength  of  the  national  aspirations  after 
unity  and  peace. 

The  only  drawback  to  the  brighter  prospect  now  open  before 
them  was  the  separation  of  Savoy  and  Nice  from  a  country  and  a 
dynasty  of  which  Savoy  had  been  the  cradle,  but  both  of  which  now 
by  a  vast  majority  of  voices  due  to  very  vigorous  pressure  from  the 
Italian  Government  voted  for  annexation  to  France.  Thus  the 
principle  of  nationality  was  allowed  to  prevail  on  both  sides  of  the 
Alps,  and  Napoleon  accepted  the  two  coveted  provinces  as  a  bribe 
for  non-intervention  in  the  national  movements  of  central  Italy. 
Victor  Emmanuel  was  constrained  by  circumstances,  and  chiefly  by 
the  continued  hostility  of  Austria,  to  bow  gracefully  to  this  decision, 
although  he  is  reported  to  have  said :  "  If  Austria  were  not  on  my 
heels,  by  the  Almighty  I  would  not  have  yielded  Nice  and  Savoy 
to  France — not  if  I  had  been  obliged  to  march  an  army  in  their 
defense!  " 

The  new  Parliament,  with  members  chosen  from  Lombardy, 
Tuscany,  and  the  other  annexed  states,  was  opened  on  April  1 
in  Turin.  The  king  in  his  opening  speech  said :  "  Italy  is  no 
longer  an  open  field  for  the  ambition  of  foreigners :  from  this  time 
it  belongs  to  the  Italians  themselves.  We  shall  have  many  obstacles 
to  surmount ;  but  held  up  by  public  opinion  and  by  the  affection  of 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY  377 

1860 

the  people,  I  will  not  allow  any  of  our  rights  to  be  violated  or  di- 
minished. Attached  as  my  ancestors  have  always  been  to  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  faith  and  the  Pope,  nevertheless,  if  the  ecclesiastical 
authority  will  have  recourse  to  arms  for  its  temporal  interests,  I 
shall  find  in  my  conscience  and  in  the  traditions  of  my  family  the 
force  necessary  to  maintain  our  civil  liberties  as  well  as  my  own 
authority  intact,  and  shall  have  to  answer  for  this  only  to  my  own 
people  and  to  God." 

The  first  act  of  the  assembly  was  to  vote  the  annexation  of 
central  Italy,  which  was  done  with  universal  acclamation.  The 
Pope  hurled  an  excommunication  against  the  authors  of  the  spolia- 
tion of  his  dominion ;  but  as  he  did  not  name  who  these  authors 
were,  the  measure  remained  without  any  effect. 

The  results  of  the  events  already  described  were  not  long  in 
making  their  appearance  in  various  parts  of  the  peninsula.  The 
northern  and  central  parts  of  Italy,  with  exception  of  the  Venetian 
territory,  now  seemed  to  see  their  hopes  already  fulfilled,  and  it  was 
only  natural  that  South  Italy  and  Sicily  should  catch  some  portion 
of  the  enthusiasm  which  was  pervading  those  more  fortunate  re- 
gions. A  new  king,  Francesco  II.,  had  just  ascended  the  throne 
of  the  Two  Sicilies,  one  who  inherited  all  the  reactionary  tenden- 
cies, and  at  the  same  time  all  the  irresolution,  which  characterized 
so  many  of  the  Bourbon  family.  Under  the  regime  of  this  prince 
the  heads  of  the  police  began  to  exercise  a  galling,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  a  brutal  tyranny,  more  especially  so  in  Sicily,  under  the  di- 
rection of  one  Maniscalco.  The  Sicilians,  always  an  excitable 
people,  were  driven  to  revolt,  and  made  several  attempts  at  insur- 
rection, which  were  at  once  put  down  by  violence  and  cruelty. 
Driven  thus  from  the  towns,  the  insurgents  wandered  in  small 
bands  among  the  mountains,  after  the  manner  of  brigands.  But 
the  news  of  these  futile  attempts  soon  made  its  way  throughout 
Italy,  when  their  importance  was  at  once  exaggerated,  and  made 
to  appear  almost  in  the  light  of  a  great  popular  revolution. 

Garibaldi,  who  always  made  his  appearance  on  the  scene  when- 
ever storms  seemed  to  be  gathering,  now  determined  to  seize  the 
opportunity  to  aid  the  Sicilian  insurgents,  and  thus  to  spread  the 
revolutionary  movement  throughout  the  dominions  of  the  King  of 
Naples.  For  this  purpose  Garibaldi  went  to  Genoa,  as  the  most 
convenient  port  of  embarkation,  and  by  letters  and  messages  called 
his  old  companions  of  the  "  red  shirt "  together  to  join  in  the  new 


378  ITALY 

1860 

enterprise.  Two  of  his  right-hand  men,  Farini  and  Bixio,  now 
came  to  his  assistance,  and  by  their  united  counsel  they  determined 
to  take  possession  of  two  large  steamers  belonging  to  the  Florio 
Company,  then  lying  in  the  port  of  Genoa,  embark  their  forces,  and 
set  out  for  their  destination.  The  Italian  Government  made  some 
feeble  protest  against  these  proceedings,  to  save  appearances  and 
silence  foreign  remonstrances;  but  they  secretly  gave  it  their  sup- 
port, and  under  the  pretext  of  watching  the  movements  of  the 
Garibaldians,  they  sent  two  men-of-war  after  them  to  shield  them 
from  any  calamity  they  might  meet  with  on  the  way. 

Garibaldi,  accordingly,  "  finally  decided  by  the  arguments  and 
assurances  of  (Francesco)  Crispi,  to  whom  the  preparation  of  the 
insurrection  in  general  and  especially  in  its  Sicilian  details  was 
chiefly  due,"6  set  sail  May  6  with  about  iooo  armed  men,  and 
having  made  a  brief  diversion  on  the  Roman  territory,  soon  arrived 
off  the  port  of  Marsala.  Here  they  found  some  ships  of  the  Nea- 
politan fleet  ready  to  bar  their  progress  and  attack  them,  as  being 
wholly  incapable  of  defense.  But  the  English  admiral,  Munday, 
was  on  the  spot  with  several  armed  vessels,  "  and  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  notorious  sympathy  of  England  for  the  Sicilians  induced 
the  Neapolitans  to  believe  that  the  ships  were  prepared  to  support 
the  landing  and  temporarily  paralyzed  them."  7  In  the  meantime, 
Garibaldi  with  his  followers  disembarked,  drew  up  his  small  forces 
on  the  land,  and  proclaimed  himself  dictator  of  the  island  of  Sicily. 
A  number  of  the  Sicilians  soon  flocked  to  his  standard,  and  in  the 
first  encounter  he  had  with  the  royal  troops  he  came  off  victorious. 

As  the  enthusiasm  now  increased,  Garibaldi  determined  to 
march  upon  Palermo.  By  some  clever  manipulation  of  his  troops 
he  succeeded  in  drawing  the  royalist  army  away  from  the  town,  and 
entered  it  himself  with  his  scanty  followers.  A  frightful  scene  of 
confusion  and  bloodshed  ensued,  and  after  a  fearful  but  fruitless 
bombardment  an  armistice  was  agreed  to  on  board  an  English  war- 
ship. "  Never  perhaps  in  the  daring  life  of  Garibaldi  was  his 
splendid  audacity  so  conspicuously  shown  as  on  this  occasion.  .  .  . 
This  audacity  cowed  the  royalists,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded  by 
which  the  Neapolitans  agreed  to  evacuate  Palermo  "  June  6.8 

But  Garibaldi  was  not  inclined  to  remain  inactive  in  Palermo. 
He  started  a  few  days  after  for  Messina,  met  General  Bosco  with  a 

6Stillman,  "The  Union  of  Italy,"  p.  312.        7  Stillman,  Ibid.,  p.  313. 
8Stillman,  Ibid.,  p.  315. 


GROWTH    OF    ITALIAN    UNITY         879 

1860 

company  of  royalist  troops  on  the  way,  and  gained  a  decisive  vic- 
tory over  him,  so  that  all  the  cannon  and  other  munitions  of  war 
sent  to  oppose  him  at  once  fell  into  his  hands.  After  this  stroke  of 
good  fortune  nothing  seemed  to  oppose  his  progress,  and  the  whole 
of  the  island  virtually  accepted  Garibaldi  as  dictator. 

But  the  task  he  had  set  himself  to  perform  was,  as  yet,  only 
half  completed.  Sicily  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  but  the  kingdom 
of  Naples  yet  remained  to  be  conquered.  He  determined,  therefore, 
to  pass  the  Straits  of  Messina  with  his  army,  and  raise  the  whole 
south  against  the  Bourbon  government. 

King  Francesco,  feeling  anything  but  secure  in  his  own  do- 
minions, appealed  to  Louis  Napoleon  for  his  intervention.  Na- 
poleon replied,  counseling  him  to  make  extreme  reforms,  to  give  a 
free  constitution  to  Naples,  to  form  an  alliance  with  Victor  Em- 
manuel, and  to  enter  generally  into  cooperation  with  the  national 
party.  But  while  he  was  considering  what  concessions  he  was  pre- 
pared to  make,  the  time  had  passed  by,  and  the  revolution  was  at 
his  heels.  He  then  applied  to  Victor  Emmanuel,  but  the  conditions 
there  propounded  were  not  acceptable.  He  next  turned  his  face 
toward  England,  but  England  showed  sympathy,  as  it  always  had 
done,  with  the  national  movement,  and  would  not  interfere. 

What  with  the  men  whom  Garibaldi  had  collected  in  Genoa, 
and  the  additions  he  had  made  to  these  in  Sicily,  he  commanded  at 
the  beginning  of  August  about  10,000  soldiers,  while  the  King  of 
Naples,  besides  the  fleet,  had  above  100,000  at  his  disposal.  But 
Garibaldi  knew  that  a  large  portion  of  them  were  demoralized,  and 
counted  on  the  defection  of  a  great  number  more  as  soon  as  they 
should  be  confronted  with  his  own  red-shirted  combatants.  Pro- 
vided, then,  with  these  troops,  he  sent  a  colonel  with  a  small  detach- 
ment across  the  Straits  of  Messina  to  excite  the  people  and  draw 
away  the  attention  of  the  troops  who  were  watching  his  movements 
on  the  mainland.  This  done,  he  embarked  his  troops  on  August 
19  at  Taromisia,  and  passing  through  the  enemy's  cruisers  by 
favor  of  night,  ran  ashore  at  Capo  delle  Arme  early  in  the  morning. 
His  first  move  was  to  unite  himself  with  the  detachment  which  had 
preceded  him,  and  march  upon  Reggio.  Here  a  sharp  conflict  en- 
sued, but  the  Neapolitan  soldiers,  as  soon  as  they  saw  Garibaldi  at 
the  head  of  his  men,  threw  down  their  arms  and  took  to  flight, 
leaving  the  town  and  all  the  warlike  stores  it  contained  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.    After  this  first  success  the  fever  began  to  spread  far 


380  ITALY 

1860 

and  wide,  until  within  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  all  Calabria, 
Puglia,  and  the  Abruzzi  opened  their  gates  before  him  as  to  a 
conqueror. 

In  Naples  all  was  confusion.  The  king  showed,  as  usual, 
nothing  but  irresolution ;  his  counselors  were  in  dismay,  seeing  the 
approach  of  the  storm,  and  no  preparations  to  stem  the  torrent  of 
enthusiasm  which  it  was  sure  to  call  forth.  And  now  the  report 
was  brought  that  Garibaldi  had  arrived  at  Salerno;  and  not  only 
this,  but  that  all  the  royalist  troops,  which  ought  to  have  barred  his 
passage,  only  lowered  their  arms  to  let  him  pass  onward.  The  king 
now  saw  that  it  was  vain  to  organize  any  resistance  in  Naples,  and 
determined  to  leave  the  city  and  take  refuge  in  the  fortresses  of 
Capua  and  Gaeta. 

Hearing  of  the  king's  flight,  Garibaldi  left  the  main  body  of 
the  army  behind  and  hastened  with  only  a  few  followers  to  reach 
the  capital,  trusting  to  the  magic  of  his  name  and  his  good  fortune 
to  secure  him  a  safe  entrance.  Nothing  could  have  been  better  cal- 
culated. Garibaldi  entered  the  city  September  7  with  only  half 
a  dozen  friends  and  supporters,  amid  the  universal  cheers  and  shouts 
of  the  whole  population.  Thus  it  was  that  a  kingdom  which  had 
lasted  above  eight  hundred  years  now  fell  almost  without  striking  a 
blow,  under  the  prestige  of  a  popular  leader,  aided  by  the  enthusi- 
asm which  had  been  created  by  the  party  of  action  in  favor  of  a  free 
and  a  united  Italy.  "  Before  sunset  September  7  the  flag  of  Italy 
was  hoisted  by  the  Neapolitan  fleet." 

We  must  now  direct  our  attention  to  the  papal  states  to  see 
what  was  passing  there.  The  Pope,  perceiving  the  revolution  to  be 
fast  gaining  ground  throughout  southern  Italy,  became  appre- 
hensive lest  the  fever  would  soon  reach  his  own  dominions,  and 
thought,  therefore,  that  it  was  high  time  to  take  measures  to  arrest 
it  before  it  should  become  irresistible.  "  Garibaldi  made  no  secret 
of  his  intention  to  carry  the  Italian  arms  to  Rome.  The  time  was 
past  when  the  national  movement  could  be  checked  at  the  frontiers 
of  Naples  and  Tuscany.  It  remained  only  for  Cavour  to  throw  the 
king's  own  troops  into  the  papal  states  before  Garibaldi  could  move 
from  Naples  "  and  to  seize  the  Marches  and  Umbria,  leaving  to  the 
Pope  a  narrow  strip  along  the  western  coast,  which  Napoleon 
regarded  as  under  his  especial  guarantee.  9  The  Pope  was  eagerly 
seconded  by  Monsignore  de  Merode,  a  distinguished  Belgian,  who 
had  now  become  a  prelate  and  attached  to  the  papal  court.  His 
9  Fyffe,  "  Modern  Europe,"  p.  000. 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY  381 

1860 

idea  was  to  preach  a  kind  of  crusade  in  favor  of  Pius  IX.  through- 
out Europe  against  what  he  termed  the  new  Islamism,  and  excite 
all  the  latent  fervor  of  every  country  in  favor  of  the  papal  au- 
thority. The  programme  he  marked  out  was  to  form  an  army  by 
the  agency  of  money  and  men  drawn  from  the  whole  of  Roman 
Catholic  Europe,  all  being  most  uncompromising  advocates  of  the 
temporal  power. 

To  give  substance  and  eclat  to  this  movement,  he  induced 
Lamoriciere,  a  famous  French  general,  celebrated  for  his  valor  and 
skill  in  the  African  wars,  to  take  the  command  and  carry  on  the 
conflict.  Elated  by  the  presence  of  so  celebrated  a  leader,  a  large 
number  of  the  most  rabid  partisans  of  the  Pope  responded  to  the 
appeal,  and  came  together  from  France,  Belgium,  Germany,  and 
Ireland, — mostly  mere  adventurers,  with  no  unity  of  thought,  pur- 
pose, or  language,  except  the  one  single  idea  of  reinstating  the 
Pope  in  the  whole  of  his  temporal  dominions.  The  ulterior  aim  of 
the  abettors  of  this  scheme  was  to  raise  up  a  power  in  central 
Italy  which  should  oppose  the  progress  of  national  unity,  and  re- 
cover to  the  cause  of  legitimacy  the  provinces  which  had  already 
joined  themselves  to  Piedmont. 

The  government  of  Victor  Emmanuel  saw  quite  plainly  that 
such  a  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Pope  and  his  counselors  must  be 
fraught  with  extreme  danger  both  to  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia 
itself  and  to  all  the  nascent  aspirations  of  the  south;  and  they  at 
once  determined  to  march  an  army  into  Umbria  and  the  Marches, 
to  make  head  against  this  crowd  of  foreign  invaders.  It  was  the 
more  necessary  to  do  so  at  this  moment,  inasmuch  as  things  ap- 
peared very  doubtful  in  Naples,  and  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  keep  a  communication  open  between  the  north  and  the  south,  so 
that  they  could  appear  rapidly  on  the  scene  should  military  support 
be  necessary  to  back  up  the  party  of  annexation.  The  army  was 
soon  in  the  field  in  two  large  divisions,  one  of  which,  under  General 
Cialdini,  went  along  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  into  the  Marches, 
while  the  other,  under  Generals  Fanti  and  Delia  Rocca,  occupied  the 
valley  of  the  Tiber.  Cialdini  soon  made  himself  master  of  Urbino, 
Senegaglia,  and  all  the  country  around,  as  there  was  no  force  of 
any  consequence  to  resist  his  progress,  and  the  population,  detesting 
the  papal  government,  were  only  too  glad  to  open  their  gates  to 
their  deliverers.  Fanti.  on  the  other  hand,  marched  upon  Perugia, 
where  was  stationed  General  Schmidt,  with  a  considerable  force  of 


382  ITALY 

1860 

papal  troops,  who  had  treated  the  inhabitants  in  the  most  infamous 
manner  and  incurred  their  hatred.  An  assault  was  made  by  Gen- 
eral Fanti  without  the  least  delay,  who  soon  got  possession  of 
the  town  and  took  the  whole  garrison  with  Schmidt  himself  pris- 
oners of  war.  Lamoriciere,  seeing  the  progress  made  by  the  roy- 
alists, and  feeling  but  little  confidence  in  the  stability  of  his 
heterogeneous  followers,  determined  to  fall  back  upon  Ancona  and 
there  organize  his  army  for  future  service;  but  no  sooner  had  the 
advanced  guard  arrived  at  Castelfidardo  than  it  was  met  by  Cialdini 
and  forced  to  an  encounter,  in  which  they  were  utterly  routed,  Gen- 
eral Pimodan  being  mortally  wounded,  and  the  troops  under  his 
command  being  either  dispersed  or  made  prisoners. 

General  Lamoriciere,  who  brought  up  the  main  body  of  the 
army,  did  not  fare  very  much  better.  After  a  short  resistance  fear- 
ful disorder  began  to  show  itself  among  the  soldiers :  a  whole  regi- 
ment of  them  refused  to  fight ;  a  company  of  foreign  recruits  turned 
and  fled,  and  the  unfortunate  general  had  at  length  to  save  himself 
also  by  a  precipitate  flight  On  arriving  at  Ancona  he  found  his 
army  dwindled  down  to  a  few  hundred  men,  and  these  confronted 
by  a  hostile  fleet.  After  a  few  days  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  all 
hope  of  resistance,  and  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  September  28.  Thus  twenty  days  sufficed  to  annihilate  the 
whole  scheme  which  had  been  formed  in  the  Vatican  for  stem- 
ming the  torrent  of  Italian  revolution,  and  Victor  Emmanuel  held 
all  Italy  but  Rome  as  far  as  the  Abruzzi. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  central  Italy,  Fran- 
cesco, King  of  Naples,  had  time  to  collect  his  forces  from  different 
parts  of  his  dominions  and  concentrate  them  in  Capua  and  along 
the  River  Volturno.  Garibaldi,  whose  army  was  still  comparatively 
small,  and  wholly  wanting  in  artillery,  sent  to  Victor  Emmanuel 
for  assistance,  both  in  men  and  munitions  of  war,  to  enable  him 
to  complete  the  conquest  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  But  as  the  royal 
troops  were  engaged,  as  we  have  seen,  in  opposing  the  army  of 
Lamoriciere,  they  were  unable  to  hasten  farther  south  to  support 
the  revolutionary  movement.  Garibaldi  accordingly  determined  to 
try  the  fortune  of  war,  and  marched  upon  Capua.  The  Bourbons, 
fearing  the  speedy  arrival  of  the  national  army,  lost  no  time  in 
answering  the  summons,  and  after  a  few  days'  skirmishing  they 
came  to  a  general  engagement  on  the  banks  of  the  Volturno,  Octo- 
ber 1,  i860.    The  battle  was  sustained  with  undiminished  valor  on 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY  383 

1860 

both  sides  for  the  whole  day,  but  toward  evening  the  victory  de- 
clared itself  on  the  side  of  Garibaldi,  and  the  enemy  had  to  retire 
upon  Capua  and  thence  to  Gaeta. 

Garibaldi  was  now  left  sole  dictator  at  Naples,  and  at  once  be- 
gan to  institute  reforms  in  all  the  governmental  and  social  arrange- 
ments of  the  kingdom.  He  expelled  the  Jesuits,  proclaimed  perfect 
religious  liberty,  instituted  schools,  and  began  a  general  plan  of 
reform  throughout  all  the  institutions  of  the  country.  The  repub- 
lican party,  which  had  been  hitherto  led  by  Mazzini,  and  with  which 
Garibaldi  always  felt  the  greatest  sympathy,  now  began  to  agitate 
the  question  of  the  future  government  of  Naples.  Their  primary 
object  was  to  prevent  the  annexation  of  the  Two  Sicilies  to  the 
kingdom  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  to  preserve  it  as  a  center  of  re- 
publican institutions  from  which  the  more  general  policy  of  a  united 
Italian  republic  could  be  proclaimed  and  agitated.  But  Garibaldi, 
although  he  was  far  too  earnest  a  patriot  to  endanger  the  fortunes 
of  Italy  by  any  hasty  adoption  of  republican  institutions,  fell  more 
and  more  into  the  hands  of  the  so-called  party  of  action  and  in- 
sisted that  union  must  be  postponed  till  all  Italy  was  free.  In  this 
plan  he  was  at  direct  odds  with  the  royal  government  and  with  the 
southern  patriots,  who  demanded  immediate  union.  But  finally  the 
policy  of  Cavour,  the  sentiments  of  the  people,  and  the  difficulties 
which  now  beset  him  on  all  sides,  as  soon  as  the  substance  of  power 
came  into  his  hands,  showed  him  clearly  the  absolute  necessity  of 
following  the  same  system  as  that  which  had  been  adopted  in  all  the 
other  Italian  states,  and  of  appealing  to  a  plebiscite  to  determine 
the  question  between  annexation  and  autonomy  in  the  southern 
provinces.  The  plebiscite  was  held  on  October  21,  i860,  and  the 
result  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations  of  the  national 
party.  In  Naples  there  were  175,464  votes  for  annexation  and 
1600  for  an  independent  republic,  in  Palermo  20,232  against  20, 
and  in  some  of  the  other  towns  every  single  voice  was  raised  in 
favor  of  Italian  nationality. 

On  this  result  being  made  known,  Victor  Emmanuel  at  once 
crossed  the  frontier  and  marched  toward  Naples  to  render  assist- 
ance to  the  forces  of  Garibaldi  and  complete  the  conquest  of  the 
country.  All  the  towns  through  which  he  passed  greeted  the  king 
with  acclamations  of  joy,  and  the  population  even  of  the  most 
distant  villages  pressed  forward  to  offer  him  their  homage.  On 
arriving  near  Capua   he  was  met  on  the  road  by  Garibaldi,   and 


384  ITALY 

1860-1861 

there  the  most  cordial  greetings  were  exchanged  between  the  two 
foremost  actors  in  the  whole  history  of  the  movement  toward 
Italian  unity.  On  November  7,  the  king  made  his  entrance  into 
Naples,  accompanied  by  Garibaldi,  amid  the  most  enthusiastic  accla- 
mations of  the  whole  city.  The  next  day  he  received  a  depu- 
tation, who  gave  him  the  result  of  the  plebiscite,  and  invited  him 
to  assume  the  government  of  the  whole  of  southern  Italy.  Gari- 
baldi, on  his  part,  wished  to  keep  the  dictatorship  for  a  year  previ- 
ous to  the  formal  annexation ;  but  Victor  Emmanuel,  fearing  he 
might  compromise  the  country  in  the  eyes  of  Roman  Catholic 
Europe  by  an  imprudent  attack  upon  Rome,  withheld  his  consent, 
and  Garibaldi,  considering  his  work  completed,  retired  to  his 
cottage  in  Caprera. 

The  southern  kingdom  was  now  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
king,  with  the  single  exception  of  Gaeta,  where  Francesco  still  kept 
up  the  remains  of  his  army,  ready  to  reassert  his  authority  when- 
ever occasion  offered.  But  Cialdini  marched  his  army  to  besiege 
this  last  stronghold,  and  soon  obliged  the  ex-king  to  retire  to  Rome, 
leaving  the  whole  kingdom  of  the  Sicilies  now  formally  annexed  to 
the  kingdom  of  Italy  (February  14,  1861).  This  last  expression 
was  the  title  now  assumed ;  and  in  place  of  Victor  Emmanuel  being 
styled  King  of  Sardinia,  he  was  proclaimed,  on  March  18,  as 
King  of  Italy  by  the  grace  of  God  and  by  the  will  of  the  nation. 
"  The  united  Italy  had  .  .  .  suddenly  become  a  fact.  .  .  . 
But  the  young  nation  was  unformed.  It  had  problems  to  face  which 
would  test  its  wisdom  and  self-restraint  more  than  all  the  work 
of  emancipation  had  done.  .  .  .  *  To  harmonize  north  and 
south,'  said  Cavour,  '  is  harder  than  righting  Austria  or  struggling 
with  Rome.'  "  10  But  before  all  else  stood  the  question  of  Rome, 
for  Rome,  the  ancient  capital,  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Pope,  and 
consequently  inaccessible  to  the  national  authority.  Cavour,  with 
his  usual  sagacity,  proceeded  to  solve  this  last  point  in  the  most 
remarkable  manner.  On  March  25,  1861,  he  delivered  a  famous 
speech  in  the  Parliament  at  Turin,  in  which  he  declared  that 
Rome  v2&S*to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  proper  capital  of  Italy, 
and  maintained  the  famous  doctrine  of  a  "  free  church  in  a  free 
state."  To  reconcile  the  Roman  Catholic  powers  to  this  policy, 
he  proposed  to  give  the  Pope  perfect  freedom  of  action  in  all 
spiritual  matters,  while  reserving  for  the  kingdom  of  Italy  the 
10  B.  King,  "  Hist,  of  Italian  Unity."  vol.  ii.  pp.  182-183. 


fc  "■5 


GROWTH     OF     ITALIAN     UNITY 


385 


1861 

prestige  of  its  ancient  capital.  This  was  the  last  act  of  Cavour's 
eventful  life.  Toward  the  last  of  May  he  was  seized  with  an 
illness  which  terminated  his  life  on  June  6,  1861.  "With  the 
passing  away  of  the  Pope's  temporal  power,  Cavour  imagined  that 
the  constitution  of  the  church  itself  would  become  more  democratic, 
more  responsive  to  the  movement  of  the  modern  world.  .  .  . 
Cavour  had  never  ceased  to  cherish  the  ideal  of  a  national  church 


GARIBALDI'S  CAMPAIGN 

IN  THE   TWO    SICILIES 


which,  while  recognizing  its  head  in  Rome,  should  cordially  and 
without  reserve  accept  the  friendship  of  the  Italian  state."  n  His 
sorrow  would  have  been  very  bitter  had  he  lived  to  know  the  present 
attitude  of  the  Roman  Church  to  united  Italy.  "  Nevertheless  the 
cautious  spirit  will  be  slow  to  conclude  that  hopes  like  Cavour's 
were  wholly  vain.  A  single  generation  may  see  but  little  of  the 
seed-time,  nothing  of  the  harvests  that  are  yet  to  enrich  man- 
kind." 12 

11  Fyft'e,  "  Modern  Europe,"  p.  906. 

12  Fyffe,  Ibid.  p.  907. 


Chapter  XLVIII 

THE  QUESTION  OF  ROME.     1862-1866 

THE  question  of  the  occupation  of  Rome  now  became  the 
question  of  the  day.  Ricasoli,  who  followed  Cavour 
as  prime  minister,  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  concilia- 
tion and  persuasion,  and  sent  a  letter  to  the  Pope  offering  to  secure 
for  him  perfect  freedom  of  action  and  undiminished  authority  in 
the  Vatican,  on  condition  of  his  sanctioning  the  annexation  of  the 
city  to  the  Italian  kingdom.  He  even  offered  to  place  the  treaty, 
which  should  be  entered  into,  under  the  guarantee  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  powers,  and  to  pay  a  large  annual  subsidy  to  enable  him  to 
keep  up  his  court  and  defray  the  expenses  of  his  ministers.  But  the 
uniform  reply  was,  "  Non  possumus,"  accompanied  not  unfre- 
quently  by  insulting  terms  leveled  against  what  he  still  persisted  in 
terming  the  Piedmontese  government.  The  non-success  of  all  these 
attempts  only  excited  the  party  of  action  to  the  greater  exertions. 
They  began  once  more  to  enroll  volunteers,  and  called  a  general  as- 
sembly of  all  the  democratic  societies  in  Genoa,  to  organize  one  large 
association  (Associazione  Emancipatrice) ,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
complete  the  whole  scheme  of  Italian  unity,  which  had  already  made 
such  marvelous  progress. 

Garibaldi  was  soon  among  them,  now  curbing  their  impa- 
tience, now  urging  on  those  measures  which  he  considered  most 
conducive  to  the  object  they  all  had  in  view.  The  excitement  be- 
came daily  greater  and  greater,  and  the  cry,  "  Roma  0  morte " 
(Rome  or  death),  began  to  resound  through  all  great  cities  of 
northern  Italy.  The  government,  fearing  to  compromise  Italy  in 
the  eyes  of  Napoleon,  who  still  continued  the  occupation  of  Rome, 
sent  to  arrest  the  most  daring  and  dangerous  of  the  revolutionists, 
and  Garibaldi  returned  to  Caprera  to  hatch  new  plots.  But  he 
could  not  rest  long  in  retirement  while  the  work  he  thought  himself 
called  to  perform  was  still  incomplete.  Accordingly,  after  two 
months'  inactivity,  he  again  appeared  on  the  scene,  and  directed  his 
steps  toward  Sicily,  the  field  of  his  former  success.    Many  of  the 

386 


QUESTION    OF     ROME  387 

1862-1865 

Sicilian  youth  again  enrolled  themselves  under  his  banner.  When, 
however,  it  became  known  that  he  was  aiming  at  another  expedi- 
tion, the  goal  of  which  was  Rome,  the  government  began  to  see  the 
danger  that  threatened,  and  sent  Cialdini  to  watch  the  progress 
of  events.  On  August  24  Garibaldi  again  crossed  the  Straits  of 
Messina.  But  very  different  was  the  reception  which  awaited  him 
on  the  mainland  from  that  which  he  met  with  two  years  before. 
The  hour  of  enthusiasm  had  passed,  the  Bourbons  were  expelled, 
the  whole  country  annexed ;  what  was  there  now  to  excite  the  popu- 
lation to  new  frenzy?  In  place  of  thousands  crowding  to  his  ban- 
ner, Garibaldi  saw  himself  opposed  by  the  royal  troops.  Shots 
were  fired  on  both  sides,  and  on  August  29  Garibaldi  took  up 
his  position  on  an  elevation  termed  Aspramonte,  and  after  a  brief 
combat  there  was  wounded  in  the  ankle  and  taken  prisoner,  with 
all  his  followers.  He  was  sent  to  Spezzia  to  be  properly  attended, 
and  his  ranks  were  dispersed  among  the  different  forts  of  the 
country. 

The  unhappy  result  of  this  last  attempt  of  the  party  of  action 
had  the  effect  of  quenching  the  ardor  of  the  more  violent  revolu- 
tionists, and  drawing  the  attention  of  the  country  rather  to  the 
internal  organization  of  the  provinces  and  the  financial  requirements 
of  the  future.  The  question  of  brigandage  also  became  one 
of  great  and  pressing  importance,  for  as  the  Italian  troops  were 
not  allowed  to  cross  the  borders  of  the  papal  states,  the  frontier 
country  became  the  haunt  of  numerous  bands  of  brigands,  who, 
when  pursued,  took  refuge  in  the  Roman  territory.  All  this  led 
to  new  recriminations  between  the  governments  of  Italy  and 
France,  and  began  to  excite  in  the  mind  of  Napoleon  the  desire  to 
be  relieved  from  the  embarrassments  which  the  Roman  occupation 
now  occasioned.  Accordingly,  after  long  negotiations,  the  Con- 
vention of  September,  1864,  was  drawn  up  between  the  Italian 
Government  and  the  emperor,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the 
latter  should  neither  attack  the  Roman  states  nor  allow  anyone 
else  to  do  so,  and  that  France  on  her  side  should  gradually  remove 
all  the  French  troops  from  Rome,  completing  the  evacuation  within 
two  years.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  the  king  should  trans- 
fer his  capital  to  some  other  convenient  locality  within  six 
months,  and  a  council  was  therefore  held  to  determine  which 
should  be  the  future  capital  of  the  Italian  kingdom.  Some  recom- 
mended Naples,  but  General  Cialdini  opposed  it,  considering  Naples 


388  ITALY 

1865 

too  much  exposed  to  attacks  from  the  sea.  The  king  decided  for 
Florence.  "  If  we  go  to  Florence,"  he  said  at  the  conclusion  of  his 
speech,  "  we  can  easily,  after  five  or  six  years,  say  adieu,  and  trans- 
port ourselves  to  Rome;  but  once  in  Naples  there  will  be  no  possi- 
bility of  a  removal,  and  we  should  be  obliged  to  renounce  the  idea 
of  ever  having  Rome  as  the  capital  of  the  kingdom." 

This  news  was  badly  received  at  Turin.  The  people  were  sore 
at  being  deprived  of  the  prestige  they  had  always  enjoyed  as  repre- 
senting the  capital  of  a  kingdom,  and  more  so  at  being  deprived  of 
Rome  and  at  seeing  Florence  selected — Florence,  which  did  not 
seem  to  have  charms  at  all  equal  to  their  own.  But  the  difficulties 
were  soon  removed,  and  by  June  i,  1865,  the  whole  of  the  govern- 
mental functions  were  definitely  settled  in  Florence.  "  M.  de 
Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  the  French  foreign  secretary,  remarked  to  the 
Italian  minister:  'Of  course  the  result  of  all  this  is  that  you  will 
eventually  go  to  Rome,  but  a  sufficient  interval  must  elapse  to  save 
us  from  responsibility."  1 

The  settlement  of  the  Italian  Government  in  Florence  was 
inaugurated  by  a  great  national  festival.  The  statue  of  Dante 
was  to  be  uncovered,  and  all  Italy  hailed  it  as  the  symbol  of  their 
now  reviving  nationality.  But  simultaneously  with  this  great 
national  assemblage,  it  became  gradually  known  that  negotiations 
had  been  carried  on  for  some  time  between  the  Italian  and  French 
governments,  the  result  of  which  was  that  Napoleon  had  agreed 
to  evacuate  Rome  within  two  years,  and  leave  the  Italian  and  papal 
courts  face  to  face  with  each  other  to  settle  their  differences  as  best 
they  could.  At  the  first  intimation  of  this  agreement  there  was 
great  excitement  at  the  Vatican,  and  Antonelli,  the  prime  minister, 
wrote  letters  of  remonstrance  to  all  the  Roman  Catholic  powers  of 
Europe.  As  these  letters,  however,  produced  no  effect,  he  began  to 
enroll  troops  and  put  the  whole  country  into  a  state  of  defense. 
But  not  content  with  this,  Pius  IX.  took  occasion  to  issue  a  syllabus, 
in  which  he  fulminated  anathemas  against  all  modern  social  ideas, 
and  claimed  powers,  as  the  vicegerent  of  Heaven,  similar  to  those 
which  were  put  forward  by  Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III.  But 
these  claims  failed  of  promoting  the  cause  for  which  they  were 
intended,  and  gave  a  new  handle  to  the  designs  of  his  enemies. 

Meantime,  the  strife  between  Austria  and  Prussia  became  more 
serious  every  day,  and  Prussia,  presaging  the  speedy  outbreak  of 
hostilities,  sought  to  bring  about  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
1  Stillman,  "  The  Union  of  Italy,"  p.  332. 


QUESTION     OF     ROME  389 

1865-1866 

with  Italy.  Italy,  in  response  to  this  invitation,  sent  a  special  am- 
bassador to  Berlin,  and  after  some  preliminary  negotiations,  a  treaty- 
was  signed  on  April  14,  1866,  in  which  Italy  bound  herself  to 
declare  war  against  Austria  immediately  on  the  outbreak  of  hos- 
tilities in  Germany,  and  was  promised  Venice  at  the  end  of  the  war. 

The  result  of  this  treaty  in  Italy  was  to  bring  the  question  of 
Venice  once  more  into  prominence.  Austria,  knowing  that  a  blow 
would  be  struck  in  this  direction,  began  to  mass  large  numbers  of 
troops  in  the  Quadrilateral,  and  to  put  the  whole  coast  of  the 
Adriatic,  so  far  as  her  dominion  extended,  in  a  state  of  defense. 
She  also  made  an  effort  to  gain  over  the  alliance  of  France,  under 
the  promise  of  ceding  Venetia  to  the  emperor,  in  return  for  an 
adequate  compensation  in  some  other  direction.  But,  notwith- 
standing all  the  offers  of  Austria,  made  through  the  intervention 
of  France,  Victor  Emmanuel,  having  once  signed  a  treaty  with 
Prussia,  absolutely  refused  to  give  up  that  alliance,  and  resolutely 
prepared  for  the  impending  war. 

This  course  was  justified  by  the  preparations  which  were 
already  being  made  by  Austria,  and  to  render  the  movement  more 
popular,  La  Marmora,  the  prime  minister  at  the  time,  sent  a  mani- 
festo into  every  part  of  the  country,  which  excited  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  and  caused  thousands  of  recruits  to  flock  to  the  national 
standard.  Everything  seemed  hurrying  to  the  crisis,  and  war 
seemed  inevitable.  Napoleon  made  one  further  attempt  to  ward 
off  this  result,  and  proposed  to  convene  a  European  congress  to 
settle  differences,  but  the  attitude  of  Austria  was  too  uncompro- 
mising, and  the  attempt  failed. 

In  June,  1866,  Prussia  occupied  Holstein,  contrary  to  the 
regulations  of  the  German  Confederation,  and  issued  a  note  to 
all  the  Germanic  powers  demanding  a  reform  of  the  constitution. 
This  gave  the  greatest  offense  to  Austria,  and  as  she  was  supported 
in  the  Diet  by  a  majority  of  votes,  Prussia  withdrew  her  represen- 
tative and  declared  war.  Italy,  according  to  the  treaty  signed  in 
Berlin,  was  bound  to  do  the  same,  and  before  the  end  of  the  month 
the  campaign  had  commenced  on  either  side  of  the  Alps. 

Austria  had  200,000  trained  soldiers  in  Italy,  and  a  combina- 
tion of  fortresses  which  gave  her  a  great  advantage  for  defense. 
Italy  had  an  army  of  300,000  men,  but  many  of  them  raw  recruits, 
hastily  enrolled  in  prospect  of  the  war.  Part  of  this  army  crossed 
the   Mincio   into   the  Austrian   territory  on  June   23.     But   the 


390  ITALY 

1866 

whole  plan  of  the  campaign  on  the  Italian  side  was  ill  conceived 
and  clumsily  executed.  After  many  preliminary  skirmishes,  two 
great  pitched  battles  were  fought,  one  at  Custozza,  the  other  at 
Villafranca,  in  both  of  which  the  Italian  arms  were  worsted  and 
Austria  remained  master  of  the  field.  The  defeat  of  the  Italians, 
however,  was  by  no  means  a  disastrous  one.  The  army  retreated, 
but  remained  unbroken,  and  ready  to  renew  the  contest  as  oppor- 
tunity offered. 

In  Germany  the  contest  was  sharp  and  decisive.  Prince  Charles 
and  the  crown  prince,  who  led  the  two  main  wings  of  the  Prussian 
army,  united  their  forces  in  Bohemia,  and  met  the  Austrians,  led 
by  General  Benedek,  at  Konigsgratz.  A  decisive  battle  was  fought 
(since  called  the  battle  of  Sadowa),  in  which  the  Austrians  were 
entirely  routed,  and  the  Prussians  took  possession  of  Bohemia. 

The  very  next  day  after  the  battle  it  was  announced  from  Paris 
that  the  Emperor  of  Austria  had  sent  a  messenger  to  Napoleon 
begging  him  to  negotiate  a  truce,  and  resigning  the  whole  of 
Venetia  into  his  hands.  This  was  a  step  rendered  indispensable 
to  the  Austrians  by  the  need  which  now  existed  of  withdrawing 
the  whole  army  of  Italy  over  the  Alps  to  defend  their  own  territory. 
Such  a  termination  of  the  struggle  after  the  defeats  which  the 
Italians  had  sustained  was  a  terrible  blow  to  their  national  pride. 
They  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  receiving  from  the  hands  of 
Napoleon  as  a  free  gift  what  they  were  unable  to  take  in  open 
warfare,  and  determined,  therefore,  to  carry  on  the  contest  with 
the  hope  of  yet  reaping  some  laurels  for  the  national  army.  Cial- 
dini  accordingly  crossed  the  Po,  and  occupied  nearly  all  Venetia, 
which  had  been  well-nigh  denuded  of  Austrian  troops,  while  Gari- 
baldi still  pursued  his  conquests  in  the  Tyrol  and  around  Trent. 
But  at  sea  Italy  was  now  equally  unfortunate  in  open  conflict  as 
it  had  been  on  land,  a  large  portion  of  the  fleet  being  destroyed  at 
Lissa  by  the  Austrians. 

Prussia  in  the  meantime  marched  forward  victoriously  to 
within  sight  of  Vienna,  when  a  truce  was  proclaimed  (July  25), 
and  a  treaty  soon  after  signed,  by  virtue  of  which  Italy  obtained 
Venice,  while  Austria  was  allowed  to  retain  her  hold  upon  Trent. 
On  August  24,  Venice  was  given  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor 
Napoleon.  On  the  following  October  19,  it  was  made  over  to 
Italy,  and  by  a  plebiscite  of  647,315  votes  against  69  definitely 
incorporated  as  a  part  of  the  Italian  kingdom. 


Chapter  XLIX 

ROME  BECOMES  THE  CAPITAL   OF  ITALY.     1 867-1871 

NO  sooner  was  the  Venetian  question  finally  settled  by  the 
annexation  of  the  whole  territory  to  the  kingdom  of 
Italy  than  the  desire  for  the  possession  of  Rome  as  the 
capital  became  more  ardent  than  ever.  Every  fresh  statesman  as 
he  came  into  power  had  some  new  plan  to  propose  for  the  solution 
of  the  difficulty,  and  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  church  to  the  state. 
Laws  to  regulate  the  relationship  between  them  were  constantly 
being  framed  and  as  constantly  rejected.  The  Holy  See  offered 
a  firm  and  unwavering  resistance  to  every  interference  of  the  civil 
power,  and  determined  to  keep  the  Roman  territory  entirely  in  its 
own  hands. 

Meantime,  however,  Napoleon  was  loyally  carrying  out  his 
part  of  the  treaty  which  he  had  entered  into  with  Victor  Em- 
manuel, by  gradually  removing  his  troops.  But  he  insisted  all  the 
more  firmly  that  Italy  should  not  depart  from  her  agreement  to 
prevent  any  hostile  force  from  entering  Rome  and  causing  revolu- 
tion in  the  papal  city.  But  no  sooner  had  the  last  French  soldier 
disappeared  than  the  National  Committee  of  Italian  Independence, 
headed  by  Garibaldi,  began  to  agitate  the  Roman  question  against 
the  express  orders  of  the  government.  A  proclamation  was  issued 
by  this  committee,  and  signed  by  Garibaldi,  in  July,  1867,  in  which 
the  Roman  people  were  urged  to  revolt  from  the  papal  government, 
and  calling  upon  all  good  Italians  to  help  them  in  their  struggle. 
Simultaneously  a  secret  expedition  was  set  on  foot  to  invade  the 
papal  states,  with  Garibaldi  at  its  head.  But  the  government,  fear- 
ing that  the  relations  with  France  might  thus  be  compromised, 
had  Garibaldi  himself  arrested  and  sent  back  to  his  home  in 
Caprera. 

This  decisive  measure,  however,  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment was  very  far  from  putting  a  stop  to  the  movement,  which 
still  went  on  under  the  direction  of  the  committee.  Band  after 
band  of  insurgents  passed  the  papal  frontiers  and  urged  the  popu- 

391 


.'392  ITALY 

1867-1868 

Iation  to  revolt.  The  Roman  government  was  not  behindhand  in 
laying-  its  complaints  before  the  emperor  of  the  French,  who,  in- 
dignant at  what  he  considered  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of 
Italy,  prepared  to  send  troops  to  Rome  as  a  protection  against  any 
further  invasion  of  the  Holy  See.  At  this  unlucky  juncture  Gari- 
baldi reappeared,  having  secretly  escaped  from  Caprera  and  re- 
joined the  insurgent  forces,  and  with  his  usual  improvident  ardor 
urged  on  the  expedition,  regardless  of  all  consequences.  A  large 
body  of  national  volunteers,  led  by  Garibaldi  and  his  officers, 
marched  forward  toward  Rome,  and  the  first  conflict  between 
them  and  the  papal  troops  took  place  at  Monte  Rotondo  on 
October  26,  1867.  The  action  was  sharp  and  decisive;  the  papal 
forces  were  obliged  to  retire,  leaving  horses,  munitions  of  war, 
and  a  number  of  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  Garibaldi.  The  Italian 
Government,  knowing  that  the  French  were  landing  at  Civita 
Vecchia,  refused  any  participation  in  the  whole  affair,  and  ear- 
nestly advised  the  insurgents  to  withdraw.  But  they  were  too 
elated  by  this  first  victory  to  listen  to  counsel,  and  only  pressed 
on  the  more  eagerly  toward  Rome.  But  hardly  had  they  passed 
the  town  of  Mentana  when  the  scouts  came  in  with  the  information 
that  the  advanced  portion  of  the  army  was  attacked  by  a  division 
of  papal  zouaves  drawn  up  to  oppose  them.  On  this  Garibaldi,  to 
prevent  his  little  army  being  outflanked,  fell  back  upon  Mentana. 
Hardly  was  this  movement  effected  when  they  were  attacked  by  the 
enemy  with  great  vigor.  A  skirmish  ensued,  in  which  the  papal 
troops  were  at  first  driven  back,  but  they  soon  advanced  again, 
backed  up  by  a  company  of  French  infantry  armed  with  the  new 
rifles  termed  "  chassepots."  The  fire  of  the  new  and  formidable 
weapon  threw  the  insurgents  speedily  into  confusion,  and  finally 
put  them  to  flight,  and  Garibaldi  was  obliged  to  retire  with  his 
whole  force  upon  Monte  Rotondo,  leaving  above  one  thousand  dead 
and  wounded  on  the  field.  Thence  he  soon  after  crossed  the 
frontier,  was  arrested  by  the  Italian  Government,  and  kept  out  of 
mischief  until  the  excitement  had  abated.  French  troops  remained 
at  Civita  Vecchia  for  the  next  three  years. 

It  became  evident  now  that  the  Roman  question  was  not  to 
be  solved  in  the  ready  manner  which  the  national  committee  had 
conceived,  but  was  once  more  relegated  to  the  method  of  diplomatic 
negotiation,  the  actual  solution  appearing  to  be  as  far  off  as  ever. 
At  this  juncture  Victor  Emmauel  took  the  matter  secretly  into  his 


ROME     BECOMES     THE     CAPITAL       393 

1868-1870 

own  hands.  Seeing  that  serious  complications  were  arising  between 
France  and  Prussia,  he  took  the  opportunity  of  proposing  to  their 
respective  sovereigns  a  defensive  alliance  between  Italy,  Austria, 
and  France,  hoping  in  this  way  to  come  to  an  amicable  settlement 
of  all  the  outstanding  questions,  and  the  Roman  question  among 
the  first.  These  secret  negotiations  were  carried  on  more  or  less 
constantly  all  through  the  years  1868  and  1869,  but  were  never 
brought  to  any  decisive  issue.  Austria  tried  her  utmost  to  induce 
the  emperor  of  the  French  to  enter  into  this  triple  compact,  and 
urged  strongly  as  a  reason  for  it  the  impending  war  with  Prussia. 
Had  Napoleon  yielded  to  these  proposals,  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  disasters  which  so  soon  overwhelmed  his  country  would 
have  been  prevented.  But  his  obstinacy  on  the  Roman  question  was 
unshaken,  and  he  marched  on  blindly  to  his  fate. 

The  year  1869  closed  with  the  assembling  of  the  Ecumenical 
Council  at  Rome,  and  the  publication  in  1870  of  the  dogma  of 
Papal  Infallibility.  Though  the  intention  of  holding  this  Council 
was  published  as  early  as  1864,  the  notion  of  discussing  infallibility 
had  occurred  to  but  two  of  the  cardinals  from  whom  written  opin- 
ions had  been  requested.  By  some  it  is  asserted  that  the  Pope,  in 
publishing  this  dogma,  expected  to  strengthen  his  position  in  his 
own  capital.  If  this  was  a  consideration,  it  was  not  the  only  one, 
as  may  fairly  be  inferred  from  his  invitation  to  Protestants  as  well 
as  to  Oriental  Catholics.  The  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  refused 
even  to  open  the  Papal  communication,  and,  except  by  a  few  schol- 
ars like  Guizot,  Pusey,  and  Menzel,  the  Protestant  world  received 
with  derision  and  contempt  the  invitation  to  participate.  Because 
of  prevailing  social  and  political  conditions  it  was  deemed  necessary 
to  consider  both  the  Primacy  and  the  Temporal  Power,  and  in 
doing  so  it  was  found  impossible  to  avoid  a  discussion  of  related 
questions,  among  them  the  matter  of  infallibility.  Its  publication, 
however,  raised  up  strife  among  bishops  and  theologians,  and  the 
governments  of  Europe,  when  they  saw  a  doctrine  proclaimed  which 
might  be  made  a  handle  for  any  amount  of  political  strife,  looked 
on  with  perfect  indifference  at  every  additional  step  which  led  to 
the  final  extinction  of  the  temporal  power. 

The  year  1870  was  ushered  in  big  with  the  presentiment  of 
coming  events.  The  tension  of  affairs  between  Prussia  and  France 
was  getting  stronger,  and  was  at  last  brought  to  a  point  by  the 
protest  of  Napoleon  against  the  candidature  of  Duke  Leopold  of 


394  I  T  A  L  Y 

1870 

Hohenzollern  for  the  Spanish  crown.  On  July  18,  war  was  de- 
clared, and  the  declaration  was  followed  with  marvelous  rapidity 
by  the  signal  failure  of  the  French  arms.  The  few  troops  which 
had  remained  in  Rome  were  recalled  to  defend  their  country,  and 
thus  the  way  was  laid  open  for  the  Italian  troops  to  march  into  the 
city  as  soon  as  they  should  be  ordered  to  do  so.  But  Victor  Em- 
manuel had  too  much  respect  for  the  treaty  with  Napoleon  to 
break  the  contract  he  had  entered  into  not  to  take  Rome  by  force  of 
arms.  But  after  the  catastrophe  at  Sedan,  followed  by  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  emperor  and  the  proclamation  of  the  French  republic, 
there  was  nothing  which  bound  him  to  observe  a  treaty  made  with 
a  power  now  defunct.  Moreover,  a  great  change  had  taken  place 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  throughout  Italy  on  the  question  of  the 
temporal  power ;  added  to  this,  the  obstinate  refusal  of  the  Pope  to 
come  to  any  kind  of  terms  with  the  court  of  Florence  (which  now 
represented  the  whole  of  Italy  with  the  exception  of  the  Roman 
state),  and  the  refuge  given  to  the  brigands  who  hung  about  the 
frontiers,  not  to  speak  of  the  danger  of  enlisting  foreign  mercen- 
aries in  the  very  heart  of  Italy — all  taken  together  showed  that  the 
independent  existence  of  the  two  powers  side  by  side  was  incom- 
patible with  peace  and  quietness.  The  other  governments  of  Europe 
showed  no  opposition  to  the  occupation  of  Rome  on  the  part  of 
Italy.  England  and  Prussia  encouraged  the  design ;  France  was  oc- 
cupied with  her  own  disasters ;  Austria  had  lost  Venice,  and  was  not 
in  a  position  to  open  a  new  strife  in  Italy;  Spain  was  struggling 
with  her  revolution;  the  moment,  in  short,  was  highly  propitious 
for  completing  the  edifice  of  Italian  unity,  and  laying  upon  it  its 
topmost  stone. 

The  king,  anxious  as  ever  to  get  possession  of  Rome  without 
fighting  his  way  in  and  causing  a  European  scandal,  sent  Count 
Ponza  di  Martini  to  the  Pope,  bearing  a  letter  urging  his  Holiness 
to  consider  the  circumstances  of  the  country  and  to  come  to  some 
kind  of  agreement.  But  these  overtures  were  rejected  as  before, 
and  the  king  had  to  give  up  all  hope  of  a  friendly  settlement.  An 
army  of  50,000  men  was  accordingly  marched  over  the  frontier  into 
the  papal  territory  under  the  command  of  General  Cadorna.  The 
inhabitants  welcomed  them,  and  the  few  companies  of  papal  zouaves 
which  they  met  with  on  the  way  were  easily  dispersed  and  put  to 
flight.  On  September  20  they  arrived  under  the  walls  of  the  city. 
Little  pressure  was  needed  to  force  their  way  in.    A  few  shots  were 


ROME     BECOMES     THE     CAPITAL 


395 


1870 


fired  against  the  Porta  Pia,  a  breach  was  made  in  the  fences,  and 
the  national  army  marched  into  Rome  amid  the  enthusiastic  accla- 
mations of  the  people. 

At  first  the  Pope,  urged  by  the  Jesuits,  determined  to  take 
flight,  as  he  had  done  before  in  similar  circumstances,  but  no 
friendly  country  was  now  near  to  receive  him.     He  accordingly 


UNION  C 

DATES  INDICATE 
YEAR  OF  ANNEXATION 


g^7 


formed  the  resolution  of  shutting  himself  up  in  the  Vatican 
palace,  refusing  all  access  to  the  conquerors,  and  putting  on  the 
air  of  a  prisoner  in  his  own  city. 

No  sooner  was  General  Cadorna  in  full  possession  of  Rome 
than  he  selected  some  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  citizens  to  form 
a  Junta  and  carry  on  the  government  until  a  plebiscite  could  be 
taken  to  decide  as  to  the  wishes  of  the  inhabitants  themselves.  This 
took    place    on    October    2,    when    40,895    votes   were   given    for 


396  ITALY 

1870-1871 

the  annexation  of  Rome  to  the  Italian  kingdom  and  96  against 
it.  On  the  9th  of  the  same  month  a  deputation  of  citizens,  headed 
by  the  Duke  of  Sermoneta,  presented  themselves  before  the  king  at 
Florence  and  gave  him  the  result  of  the  plebiscite,  formally  pro- 
claiming the  pontifical  states  to  be  henceforth  annexed  to  the  king- 
dom of  Italy.  Thus  the  progress  of  public  opinion,  the  force  of  the 
national  will,  and  twenty  years  of  persevering  efforts  and  sacrifices, 
succeeded  at  last  in  bringing  to  a  termination  a  power  supposed  by 
many  to  be  indestructible,  and  constituting  once  more  Rome,  with 
all  its  memories  and  all  its  enormous  prestige,  as  the  center  and 
capital  of  Italy.  Steps  were  immediately  taken  to  transfer  the 
government  to  this  its  natural  seat.  On  June  24,  1871,  the  gov- 
ernment held  its  last  sitting  in  Florence,  and  on  the  28th  the 
king  bade  adieu  to  the  Pitti  Palace.  Having  first  visited  Naples,  he 
made  his  entry  into  Rome  on  July  2,  amid  the  most  enthusi- 
astic cheers  of  the  whole  population,  and  took  up  his  abode  in  the 
Ouirinal.  On  November  27,  the  Parliament  assembled  at  Mon- 
tecitorio.  The  king,  in  his  opening  speech,  declared  that  they  had 
entered  the  Eternal  City  maintaining  all  their  relations  with  the 
European  powers  intact.  "  The  unity  of  Italy  was  at  last  com- 
pleted. ...  A  body  of  laws  passed  by  the  Italian  Parlia- 
ment, and  known  as  the  Guarantees,  assured  to  the  Pope  the  honors 
and  immunities  of  a  sovereign,  the  possession  of  the  Vatican  and 
Lateran  palaces,  and  a  princely  income;  in  the  appointment  of 
bishops  and  generally  in  the  government  of  the  church  a  fullness 
of  authority  was  left  him  such  as  he  possessed  in  no  other  European 
land.  But  Pius  would  accept  no  compromise  for  the  loss  of  his  tem- 
poral power.  He  spurned  the  reconciliation  with  the  Italian  people. 
He  declared  Rome  to  be  in  the  possession  of  brigands; 
and,  with  a  fine  affectation  of  disdain  for  Victor  Emmanuel  and 
the  Italian  Government,  he  invented  and  sustained  down  to  the  end 
of  his  life  .  .  .  the  reproachful  part  of  the  Prisoner  of  the 
Vatican."  * 

1  Fyffe,  "Modern  Europe,"  p.  1019. 


Chapter    L 

INTERNAL    CONDITION    OF    THE    KINGDOM. 
1871-1910 

THUS  In  1 87 1  the  capital  of  Italy  was  transferred  to  Rome. 
The  death  of  Victor  Emmanuel  occurred  seven  years  later 
and  his  son  came  to  the  throne  as  Humbert  I.  of  Italy 
instead  of  continuing-  the  succession  of  the  kings  of  Sardinia  as 
Humbert  IV.  The  reigning  monarch,  since  the  assassination  of 
Humbert,  is  Victor  Emmanuel  III.,  whose  infant  son,  born  in  1904, 
is  called — out  of  regard  for  the  Vatican — Prince  of  Piedmont,  and 
not  Prince  of  Rome.  The  statute  of  Charles  Albert,  issued  in  1848, 
is  the  constitution  of  united  Italy.  By  its  terms  the  government  is 
monarchical,  the  crown  being  vested  in  the  house  of  Savoy,  but  ex- 
cluding female  succession.  The  executive  power  belongs  to  the 
king,  acting  through  ministers  who  have  entrance  to  Parliament. 
There  are  two  chambers  in  Parliament — a  Senate,  whose  members 
are  nominated  by  the  king  without  restriction  of  numbers ;  a  Cham- 
ber of  Deputies,  composed  of  about  five  hundred  members  elected 
for  five  years.1 

"  One  of  the  first  facts  that  meets  the  observer  of  Italian  life 
is  the  chaos  and  decay  of  the  old  political  parties."  In  the  sixties  and 
early  seventies  the  Right,  or  Conservatives,  formed  the  great  party 
par  excellence.  They  ruled  united  Italy  during  the  first  fifteen 
years  of  its  existence,  and  on  the  whole  well.  "  But  they  were  so 
intent  on  balancing  the  finances  that  they  forgot  social  reform,"  and 
in  1876  they  were  defeated  and  gave  place  to  the  Left,  or  Progres- 
sives. Thereafter  until  1887  Depretis  was  head  of  the  government 
except  for  two  short  intervals,  and  he  inaugurated  that  fatal  policy 
of  securing  his  supporters  among  men  of  all  parties.  In  order  to 
please  this  motley  following  he  had  to  trim  and  turn  and  could 

1  See  "  Italy  To-day,"'  by  B.  King  and  T.  Okcy,  London,  1901 ;  "  Italian 
Life  in  Town  and  Country,"  by  Luigi  Villari,  New  York,  1902 ;  "  Parlcmen- 
tarisme  italien:  le  Cabinet  Pelloux,"  by  M.  Caudelin;  Annates  de  I'&colc 
libre  des  Sciences  Politiques,  vol.  v.  No.  15 ;  "  Transformation  des  Socictes 
europeennes  au  igmc.  Siccie:  I'llalie,"  by  C.  Seignobos,  in  Revue  des  Cours 
et  Conferences,  July  9,  1903;  The  Annual  Register,  passim. 

397 


398  ITALY 

1876-1882 

follow  no  consistent  plan.  "  The  civil  service  became  a  machine  to 
secure  a  ministerial  majority.  Constituencies  were  bought  with  local 
railways  and  public  works,  with  every  direct  and  indirect  form  of 
bribery.  In  Parliament  the  government  '  exploited  chance/  bribing 
members,  buying  the  support  of  this  or  that  shifting  group,  veering 
sometimes  to  Right,  sometimes  to  Left,  with  little  other  aim  but  to 
keep  in  office.  .  .  .  But  it  is  to  this  period  that  Italy  still  mainly 
owes  the  worst  features  of  her  later  politics — the  electoral  corrup- 
tion, the  degradation  of  the  civil  service,  the  mad  colonial  policy, 
the  Triple  Alliance,  the  protective  tariff,  the  worst  of  the  bank 
scandals."2  This  policy  of  fusion  and  confusion  has  been  called 
Trasformismo. 

With  the  accession  of  the  Left  in  1877  had  come  the  rise  to 
power  of  Crispi,  who  had  been  so  active  in  Garibaldi's  Sicilian  expe- 
dition. He  is  noteworthy  among  a  host  of  mediocre  aspirants  for 
power,  though  often  hasty  and  even  flighty.  His  saying,  "  The 
monarchy  unites  us,  the  republic  would  divide  us,"  became  the  key- 
note of  the  Democrats. 

In  1882  the  suffrage  was  somewhat  enlarged,  but  it  is  still 
based  on  property  qualifications,  and  illiterates  are  ipso  facto  barred. 
"  The  proportion  of  the  population  which  has  the  vote  is  very  small. 
Before  1882  it  was  only  2  per  cent. ;  now  ( 1901 )  it  is  only  7  per  cent., 
as  against  16  in  Great  Britain,  20  in  Germany,  27  in  France."  3  The 
deputies  are  not  paid.  The  Republicans,  who  have  retained  the  desire 
for  the  complete  union  of  all  Italian-speaking  lands — Tyrol,  Trieste, 
Corsica,  Nice,  Malta — are  called  the  party  of  "  L 'Italia  irridenta." 
The  Radicals  wish  to  play  a  great  part  in  Europe  and  have  colonies, 
and  so  they  favor  the  Triple  Alliance.  The  Socialists,  who  have 
lately  made  immense  gains,  are  content  with  the  monarchy  for  the 
present,  and  strive  for  purity  in  politics  and  progressive  social  reform 
legislation.  The  Conservatives'  aim  is  to  strengthen  the  money 
and  landed  powers  or  authorities,  and  they  manifest  a  foolish  dread 
of  any  reform,  no  matter  how  salutary,  if  it  is  supported  by  the 
Socialists.  Changes  of  ministry  are  very  frequent,  averaging  once 
a  year. 

The  relations  between  the  government  of  Italy  and  the  Papacy 

form  a  painful  and  complicated  subject;  but  on  the  whole  it  may 

safely  be  said  now  that  time  is  slowly  softening  papal  hostility.   The 

Papacy  cannot  openly,  however,  abandon  the  attitude  assumed  with 

2  King  and  Okey,  "Italy  To-day,"  p.  3.  3  Ibid.,  p.  14. 


CONDITION     OF     KINGDOM  399 

1882-1883 

such  unfortunate  impetuosity  by  Pio  Nono.  Even  after  all  these 
years  have  passed  away  the  Pope  is  still  the  (voluntary)  Prisoner  of 
the  Vatican.  He  has  refused  to  recognize  the  Italian  Government, 
and  on  all  occasions,  as  at  the  death  of  King  Humbert,  he  renews 
his  official  protest  at  being  deprived  of  the  papal  states.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  new  Pope,  Pius  X.,  will  abandon  this  position  and  acknowl- 
edge the  abundantly  proved  fact  that  neither  from  foreign  pressure 
nor  from  within  is  there  the  slightest  chance  of  his  obtaining  the 
restoration  of  the  anomalous  temporal  power. 

The  state  has  steadily  and  faithfully  maintained  the  Law  of 
Guarantee,  which  secures  to  the  Pope  the  position  of  a  sovereign, 
"  declares  his  person  to  be  inviolable,  punishes  attacks  and  libels  on 
it  as  attacks  on  the  king,  guarantees  him  the  Vatican  and  Lateran 
palaces  with  the  suburban  retreat  of  Castel  Gandolfo  and  an  annual 
dotation  of  $625,000,  allows  no  officer  of  justice  to  enter  their  pre- 
cincts, and  gives  the  Pope  special  postal  and  telegraphic  facilities."  4 

Just  what  the  strength  of  the  papal  party  is  among  the  people  is 
hard  to  say.  Judging  from  all  data  at  hand  it  seems  that  the  Roman 
Church  in  Italy  since  1870  has  maintained  part  of  its  hold  at  least, 
and  it  certainly  has  shown  a  remarkable  outburst  of  activity  in  re- 
ligious and  social  matters.  Yet  it  has  had  a  hardy  rival  in  Socialism, 
which  has  taken  many  adherents  from  it.  The  clever  policy  of  Leo 
XIII.  and  his  generally  admired  character  have  done  much  to  rescue 
the  Roman  Church  from  the  precarious  condition  in  which  it  was 
left  by  Pio  Nono.  Nevertheless,  Leo  longed  to  recover  the  temporal 
power,  and  as  late  as  1898  he  allowed  Cardinal  Parocchi  "  to  talk  of 
a  popular  crusade  "  to  attain  this  end. 

Besides  hoping  for  foreign  aid,  the  Papacy  has  used  internal 
pressure  on  the  government  by  ordering  the  faithful  to  abstain  from 
voting.  In  1883  it  was  declared  inexpedient  for  members  of  the 
Roman  Church  to  vote  in  parliamentary  elections.  By  express  order 
of  the  Pope  in  1895  the  faithful  were  forbidden  to  vote,  "  and  the 
inexpedient  (non  expedit)  became  unlawful.  If  the  rule  had  been 
generally  obeyed,  it  would  have  been  a  serious  danger  to  the  state. 
But  it  attempted  the  impossible.  Wiser  men,  like  Manning,  always 
protested  against  it.  The  almost  unanimous  evidence  of 

men  of  all  parties  goes  to  show  that  .  .  .  the  non  expedit  is 
little  observed."  5 

Until  recently  the  financial  question  has  proved  one  of  the 
4  King  and  Okey,  "  Italy  To-day,"  p.  40.  B  Ibid ,  p.  47. 


400  ITALY 

1883-1910 

most  difficult  to  solve  in  Italy.  Vast  public  works  were  carried  out, 
the  army  and  navy  were  unduly  expensive,  and  deficits  occurred 
annually  in  the  national  budget.  For  a  time  a  mania  for  speculation 
swept  over  the  country  and  the  wildest  schemes  obtained  support. 
At  this  period  Rome  saw  itself  partially  transformed  into  a  modern 
city,  and  a  very  ugly  one  at  that.  Then  came  a  reaction,  together 
with  the  discovery  of  the  disgraceful  bank  scandals,  which  are  even 
yet  veiled  in  mystery.  Italy  presented  a  sorry  picture  of  corrup- 
tion, miserable  poverty,  and  oppression  to  the  world. 

Conditions  in  Sicily0  were  probably  the  worst  in  all  Italy.  To- 
day improvement  is  evident  everywhere.  The  standard  of  living 
has  slowly  risen.  The  squalor  of  former  days  is  disappearing. 
Industrial  expansion  is  beginning  to  effect  a  decided  amelioration 
for  all  classes,  including  the  peasants.  A  considerable  source  of 
strength  for  Italy  is  the  devotion  of  her  absent  sons,  who  send  back 
to  the  old  country  annually  large  sums  from  the  United  States, 
South  America,  and  from  near-by  countries,  where  there  are  many 
Italians  working  as  temporary  emigrants.  Official  reports  show  that 
in  the  year  1907,  276,420  went  to  other  parts  of  Europe,  298,124  to 
the  United  States,  101,441  to  Argentine  Republic,  Uruguay,  Para- 
guay and  Brazil,  14,048  to  North  Africa,  and  10,436  to  Canada.  In 
1905,  127,000  emigrants  returned  to  Italy;  in  1906,  160,000;  and  in 
1907,  234,000,  of  whom  162,000  were  from  the  United  States  alone. 

It  was  hoped  that  unity  would  bring  about  increase  of  pros- 
perity, but  this  hope  was  disappointed.  In  1862  foreign  trade  stood 
at  about  $300,000,000,  and  during  the  next  decade  it  increased  about 
one-half.  "  From  1870  to  1897  the  foreign  trade  practically  stood 
still  and  the  exports  showed  a  progressive  decline.  In  the  last  three 
years  (published  in  1901)  there  has  been  a  startling  change.  The 
exports,  from  an  average  of  less  than  $195,000,000  in  the  previous 
decade,  rose  to  $240,000,000  in  1898,  and  $285,000,000  in  1899, 
though  they  have  fallen  off  to  $267,000,000  in  1900,  partly  owing 
to  the  failure  of  the  olive  crop.  The  imports,  from  an  average  of 
$240,000,000,  rose  to  $282,000,000  in  1898,  $300,000,000  in  1899, 
and  nearly  $335,000,000  in  1900.  The  great  bulk  of  the  increase  in 
exports  has  been  in  manufactured  articles,  especially  silk,  and  more 
than  half  the  increase  in  imports  has  been  in  raw  materials,  machin- 
ery, and  coal.    There  is,  in  fact,  every  sign  that  Italy  is  at  the  com- 

°"  II  Movimento  Agricolo  Siciliomo,"  F.  L.  Vetere,  Sondron,  1903.     Deals 
chiefly  with  Agrarian  revolts,  1800-1893. 


CONDITION     OF     KINGDOM  401 

1900-1910 

mencement  of  a  remarkable  industrial  expansion."  This  prediction, 
written  by  King  and  Okey  in  1900,  has  been  fulfilled  in  the  succeed- 
ing years.  In  1902  the  imports  were  worth  $354,848,112;  in  1903, 
$403,788,091 ;  in  1907,  $585,726,820;  the  exports  for  1902  were  worth 
$294,481,639;  for  1903,  $304,842,448;  for  1907,  $371,460,009. 

The  most  important  industry  is  silk,  but  cotton  is  now" being 
raised  with  some  success.  Most  of  the  exports  go  to  South  America 
and  the  Levant,  but  Italy's  yarns  and  textiles  are  beginning  to  enter 
into  competition  in  the  international  market.  Italy  has  tried  a  pro- 
tective tariff,  the  highest  one  in  1887,  but  she  seems  to  have  suffered 
rather  than  benefited.  In  1899  a  reciprocal  commercial  treaty  was 
made  with  France,  as  had  previously  been  done  with  Switzerland, 
Austria,  and  Germany.  Despite  the  continued  existence  of  agrarian 
poverty,  which  has  been  of  the  most  extreme  sort,  agriculture  itself 
seems  to  be  sharing  in  the  general  revival. 

These  improved  conditions  are  reflected  in  the  national  budget. 
Italy  for  a  long  time  was  heavily  burdened  with  an  immense  national 
debt,  which  she  has  been  steadily  absorbing  within  the  last  few  years. 
In  November,  1901,  the  government  announced  in  Parliament  that 
the  financial  year  1900-190 1  left  a  surplus  of  $8,000,000,  instead  of 
the  anticipated  (and  usual)  deficit.  (See  Annual  Register,  190 1). 
By  the  end  of  1902  the  national  finances  had  reached  a  "  state  of 
prosperity  long  unknown.  The  budget  of  1901-1902  had  ended 
with  a  surplus  of  $6,500,000."  The  corrected  budget  of  1902- 1903 
gave  reason  to  expect  a  surplus  of  $3,200,000  on  a  total  of  $362,- 
400,000  (on  the  rough  basis  of  five  lire  to  the  dollar).7 

The  report  of  the  director  general  of  the  Banca  dTtalia,  read  on 
March  28,  1903,  affords  fresh  testimony  to  the  revival ;  it  points  out 
the  high  price  of  Italian  rentes,  owing  to  the  satisfactory  state  of 
public  finance,  to  the  constantly  increasing  thrift  and  improvement  in 
the  national  economy,  to  the  rapid  and  continuous  absorption  of 
securities  held  abroad,  the  sums  sent  home  by  Italian  emigrants,  and 
the  healthier  circulation  of  money.  This  has  tended  to  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  exchange  (as  all  those  who  have  recently  traveled  in  Italy 
can  testify!).  On  June  30,  1907,  the  property  of  the  state  was  val- 
ued at  $5,987,030,726  lire  or  $1,197,406,146,  of  which  26,254,810  lire 
or  $5,250,962  was  in  gold. 

Military  service  in  Italy  is  obligatory.   At  the  age  of  20  all  men 

7  See  La   Nuova   Anfalogia,   for    October    16,    1903,    art.    by    M.    Ferraris 
(Deputy),  on  "La  Situasione  Finanziaria  c  il  Bilancio,  1902-1903." 


402  I  T  A  L  Y 

1901-1910 

not  physically  debarred  have  to  enter  their  names  on  the  army  list 
and  then  serve  for  two  or  three  years.  Those  who  have  an  advanced 
education  and  pay  taxes  to  the  amount  of  $240  a  year  are  required 
to  remain  with  the  colors  for  one  year  only.  A  man  is  bound  to 
serve,  in  case  of  war,  till  he  reaches  the  age  of  forty,  so  that  the 
mobilized  army  would  consist  of  about  3,481,000  men.8 

In  the  Parliament  of  1901-1902  a  law  was  passed  which  fixed 
the  maximum  of  the  cost  of  the  army  from  July  1,  1901,  to  June  30, 
1907,  annually,  at  $47,800,000,  with  $7,200,000  for  pensions,  or  a 
total  of  $55,000,000.  Comparing  this  with  other  countries  as  to 
military  expenditure  and  revenue,  the  proportion  is  very  little  higher 
in  Italy  than  in  Austria,  Germany,  or  Russia.  A  fairer  test  is  the 
proportion  of  military  expenditure  to  population,  and  from  this  point 
of  view  Italy  is  better  situated  than  most  of  the  other  countries,  the 
cost  being  about  II  francs  in  Italy,  against  nearly  20  francs  in  Ger- 
many and  more  than  25  francs  in  France.  Moreover,  thanks  to  the 
law  of  1 901,  Italy's  military  expenses  remain  stationary,  while  in 
most  European  countries  they  are  increasing.3  Italy  has  also  striven 
to  develop  a  navy,  which,  owing  to  the  conformation  of  the  penin- 
sula, is  particularly  important.  She  has  large  ships  and  has  spent 
much  on  them,  but  their  efficiency  is  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

In  education  Italy  has  the  sad  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
most  backward  countries  in  Western  Europe.  This  is  due  not  so 
much  to  lack  of  interest  as  to  a  vicious  system.  Since  i860  there 
have  been  nearly  forty  education  ministers,  each  with  his  own  pet 
schemes  to  carry  out.  Then,  too,  money  has  been  stinted.  Middle- 
class  education  is  profoundly  unsatisfactory.  The  students  often 
take  part  in  political  or  social  agitation  and  the  government  seems 
afraid  to  interfere.  The  clerical  schools  are  on  the  whole  better  man- 
aged and  seriously  cut  into  the  attendance  at  the  government 
schools.  Universities  abound  (there  are  twenty-one),  but  they  do 
not  turn  out  many  well-equipped  graduates.  Besides,  there  are  so 
many  graduated  that  there  is  nothing  for  most  of  them  to  do.  The 
result  has  been  to  create  a  class  of  educated  unemployed,  who 
clamor  for  government  posts,  and  yet  notwithstanding  all  the  gov- 
ernment's complaisance,  many  of  them  cannot  be  provided  for, 
and  those  left  over  form  a  really  dangerous  element,  being  always 
discontented  and  ready  to  criticise  everything. 

8  The  estimated  population  of  Italy,  January  1,  1910,  was  34,000,000— an  increase 
of  4,000,000  since  1881,  despite  the  losses  by  emigration. 

9  The  Times,  London,  February  20,  1903. 


CONDITION     OF     KINGDOM  403 

1881-1910 

Ever  since  the  French  revolution  Italy  has  been  regarded  as 
the  classic  ground  for  secret  societies.  Reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  Carbonari  and  others  active  during  the  Risorgimento. 
Anarchism,  which  long  seemed  very  prosperous  in  Italy,  has  now 
largely  succumbed  to  Socialism.  But  there  are  two  flourishing  secret 
societies — the  Camorra  and  the  Mafia.  It  is,  naturally,  difficult  to 
speak  of  these  societies  with  certainty,  but  King  and  Okey,  who 
know  Italy  well  and  have  studied  present  conditions  there  with  care, 
give  what  is  probably  as  reliable  an  account  as  we  have.  The  im- 
portance of  these  societies,  they  say,  is  often  greatly  exaggerated. 
The  Camorra  is  practically  confined  to  the  city  of  Naples,  where  it 
flourishes  on  the  deep-seated  corruption  of  a  large  section  of  the  com- 
munity. It  is  a  vicious  organization  of  the  criminal  poor,  which 
exists  by  blackmail.  Very  much  like  the  Camorra  is  the  Mafia,  which 
is  confined  to  Sicily.  It  is  made  up  of  bands  of  about  a  dozen  men, 
each  under  the  leadership  of  some  especially  prominent  and  success- 
ful criminal  who  acts  as  a  sort  of  director,  but  seldom  takes  an  active 
part,  leaving  the  work  to  his  subordinates  and  giving  them  the 
benefit  of  his  advice.  These  bands  form  a  species  of  criminal  aris- 
tocracy, and  are  generally  not  of  the  lowest  class,  but  are  often  small 
proprietors  or  tradesmen,  and  occasionally  are  even  higher  in  the 
social  scale.  Blackmail  is  the  chief  instrument,  murder  and  theft 
being  reserved  for  recalcitrants  or  backsliders.  These  societies 
will  disappear  only  with  improved  social  conditions,  for  the  police 
could  not  stamp  them  out  at  present  even  if  they  should  try  to  do  so. 
They  are  symptomatic  of  the  diseased  social  state  of  southern  Italy. 
The  social  discontent  which  gives  them  birth  was  also  manifested  in 
the  Sicilian  riots  of  1893-1894,  the  riots  of  1898,  and  the  famous 
"  Fatti  di  maggio  "  at  Milan,  and  various  other  events  of  the  same 
kind. 

Italy's  foreign  policy,  which  at  first  under  the  Conservatives 
tended  to  friendship  with  France,  has  since  188 1  been  officially,  at 
least,  consonant  with  the  existence  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  formed  in 
1882,  between  Italy,  Austria,  and  the  German  Empire.  The  occupa- 
tion of  Tunis  by  France  in  1881  brought  about  a  revulsion  in 
Italy  against  the  French.  The  alliance  is  purely  defensive,  but  it  is 
frequently  charged  with  the  responsibility  for  Italy's  heavy  military 
expenses,  for  it  is  said  that  it  has  obliged  Italy  to  maintain  an  unduly 
large  armament  in  order  to  keep  up  with  the  other  two  powers.  It 
has  been  renewed  at  various  intervals,  the  last  time  being  1902,  when 


404  ITALY 

1880-1910 

there  were  widespread  expectations  that  Italy  would  refuse  to  bind 
herself  again  to  the  two  central  nations,  but  would  go  back  to  her 
traditional  Gallophile  policy,  freely  and  without  restrictions. 

In  the  latter  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  mania  for  col- 
onies seized  hold  of  almost  all  Europe,  which  had  awakened  to  the 
commanding  position  of  Great  Britain  and  desired  to  imitate  it. 
Italy,  burdened  with  debt  and  beset  with  domestic  difficulties,  did 
not  escape  the  prevailing  craze. 

In  1880  the  Rubatino  Navigation  Company  ceded  to  the  Italian 
Government  its  coaling  station  in  the  Bay  of  Assab  on  the  Red  Sea. 
This  was  accepted  without  any  colonial  intention  by  the  Cabinet. 
After  having  refused  England's  offer  to  join  in  the  occupation  of 
Egypt,  at  the  instigation  of  France,  Italy  was  piqued,  and  soon  began 
to  look  elsewhere  for  compensation.  Then  she  came  to  a  secret 
understanding  with  France  of  making  Massowah  on  the  Red  Sea 
into  a  military  establishment,  with  a  view  to  acquisitions  on  the 
Nile  (1885).  This  attempt  led  in  1887  to  war  with  Abyssinia, 
which  finally  ceded  considerable  territory  to  Italy — as  far  as  Asmara. 
Crispi  for  a  time  resisted  the  popular  desire  for  colonial  expansion, 
and  uttered  prophetic  warnings  of  the  consequences,  but  he  soon 
adopted  this  policy  as  his  own,  and  named  the  new  colony  Erythrea. 
With  the  accession  of  Menelek,  King  of  Shoa,  as  ruler  of  Abyssinia 
(1889),  a  decided  change  came  in  Africa.  He  at  once  announced 
that  he  would  not  recognize  the  Italian  protectorate.  Attacks  were 
also  made  by  the  dervishes.  By  1894  hostilities  were  in  full  swing 
between  the  Italians  and  Menelek.  In  1895  the  Italian  commander, 
Baratieri,  advanced  into  Menelek's  territory  and  occupied  the  Tigre 
district.  Menelek  now  advanced  to  meet  the  Italians,  who  were  few 
in  numbers  and  poorly  equipped,  chiefly  owing  to  the  ignorance  and 
neglect  of  the  ministry.  Menelek  captured  the  Italian  outpost, 
Makaleh,  in  January,  1896,  and  he  at  once  proceeded  against  Adowa 
with  80,000  men,  where  he  encountered  Baratieri  with  only  14,000 
men  on  March  1.  Of  the  total  Italian  force  6000  were  killed.  The 
entire  history  of  the  affair  has  not  yet  been  cleared  up,  despite  the 
court-martial  of  Baratieri,  which  followed.  It  led  to  the  immediate 
resignation  of  Crispi  on  March  5,  to  whose  carelessness  and  igno- 
rance the  disaster  was  in  great  part  due.  Di  Rudini,  Crispi's  suc- 
cessor, announced  the  abandonment  of  colonial  expansion  and 
negotiated  a  peace  with  Menelek,  giving  up  to  him  the  Tigre. 

In  July,  1900,  as  he  was  returning  from  a  festa  to  his  palace 


CONDITION     OF     KINGDOM  405 

1900-1910 

at  Monza,  King  Humbert  was  assassinated  by  the  anarchist  Bresci. 
The  king's  only  son,  the  Prince  of  Naples,  succeeded  to  the  throne 
as  Victor  Emmanuel  III.,  and  was  everywhere  received  with  popular 
sympathy  and  respect.  He  was  only  thirty  years  old.  The  king 
is  noteworthy  for  his  strict  education,  his  simplicity,  and  liberal 
views;  he  is  studious  and  has  a  strong  will.  Among  the  vast 
majority  of  his  subjects  he  is  deservedly  popular.  Nothing  could 
have  given  greater  proof  of  his  liberality  and  truly  democratic  and 
statesmanlike  grasp  of  contemporary  conditions  than  his  appoint- 
ment of  Zanardelli,  for  many  years  prominent  as  an  advanced  radical 
and  an  eminent  jurist,  as  premier.  It  is  indeed  fortunate  for  Italy 
that  with  the  material  turn  in  the  tide  she  has  likewise  a  new  and 
capable  king.  Zanardelli  held  office  till  October,  1903,  when  he 
retired  on  account  of  ill-health,  after  a  most  successful  administra- 
tion, and  was  succeeded  by  another  radical — Giolitti.  In  1902  the 
presence  of  the  king  at  Naples  to  welcome  the  fleet  on  its  return 
from  China  gave  occasion  for  imposing  demonstrations  expressive 
of  the  complete  harmony  existing  between  the  king  and  his  people. 
Zanardelli,  backed  up  by  his  foreign  minister,  Prinetti,  was 
strongly  in  favor  of  friendship  with  France,  and  under  him  there 
has  been  a  striking  renewal  of  cordiality  between  the  two  countries, 
made  evident  to  the  world  by  the  joint  maneuvers  of  the  fleets  at 
Toulon,  a  commercial  treaty,  and  an  agreement  as  to  the  Tripolitana, 
which  has  greatly  tempered  Mediterranean  animosities.  At  the  New 
Year's  reception  at  the  French  embassy  in  Rome  on  January  1,  1902, 
the  French  ambassador,  Barrere,  referring  to  the  good  relations 
between  Italy  and  France,  said :  "  There  exists  perfect  conformity 
of  views  between  the  two  governments."  10  In  the  autumn  of  1903 
King  Victor  Emmanuel  visited  Paris,  where  he  met  with  a  most 
cordial  reception.  In  this  same  year  King  Edward  VII.,  was  re- 
ceived at  Rome,  and  shortly  afterwards  Victor  Emmanuel  made  a 
return  visit  at  Windsor,  thus  testifying  to  the  continued  existence 
of  Anglo-Italian  friendship.  The  relations  between  the  Roman 
Church  and  the  Italian  Government  showed  a  conspicuous  improve- 
ment in  the  years  1904-1905.  The  Pope,  Pius  X.,  turned  from  the 
policy  of  the  non  expedit  and  for  the  first  time  Catholics  openly  took 
an  active  part  in  Italian  politics.  Their  influence  in  politics  is 
much  needed  as  a  conservative  counterpoise  to  the  radicals,  social- 
ists, and  republicans.  Although  the  rapprochement  can  only  be 
i0TAe  Times,  January  2,  1902. 


406  ITALY 

1900-1910 

brought  about  slowly,  it  is  already  full  of  promise  for  the  future 
of  Italy.  Gioletti,  the  President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers,  has 
welcomed  overtures  from  the  Vatican,  and  so  has  the  king.  De- 
spite the  visit  of  President  Loubet  to  Italy  in  1904,  where  his  fail- 
ure to  visit  the  Pope  caused  criticism,  the  good  feeling  between 
Church  and  State  seems  decidedly  on  the  increase,  and  the  vexed 
problem  of  the  temporal  power  may  before  many  years  reach  a  sat- 
isfactory solution.  The  financial  status  of  the  government  is  the 
best  for  years.  The  expenditures  for  1907-1908  were  estimated 
at  2,173,445,699  lire,  and  the  revenue  at  2,224,410,293  lire.  The 
agio  on  gold  has  disappeared,  and  the  national  debt  has  been  de- 
creased. Foreign  relations  are  on  a  better  basis  than  ever  before 
and  are  ably  managed  by  Minister  Tiltoni.  December  14,  1904, 
a  convention  for  arbitration  was  signed  with  the  United  States,  and 
the  cordial  relations  with  France  and  England  have  been  retained, 
thus  giving  Italy  a  needed  freedom  and  independence  of  policy  as 
regards  the  Triple  Alliance. 

In  April,  1906,  for  ten  days  Mount  Vesuvius  was  in  the  most 
terrible  and  destructive  eruption  since  that  of  79  A.  D.,  when  Pom- 
peii and  Herculaneum  were  buried.  Four  towns  and  several  small 
villages  were  destroyed  and  more  than  two  thousand  lives  were  lost. 
The  presence  of  both  king  and  queen,  who  hastened  at  once  to 
Naples,  did  much  to  quiet  the  alarm  and  alleviate  the  sufferings  of 
the  people.  The  security  of  Victor  Emmanuel  III.  in  the  hearts  of 
his  people  could  not  have  been  put  to  a  surer  test.  Under  this 
able  and  popular  sovereign  United  Italy  has  auspiciously  begun  the 
twentieth  century,  and,  with  increasing  political  as  well  as  financial 
well-being,  there  seems  every  reason  to  hope  that  she  will  long 
enjoy  peace,  prosperity,  and  progress. 

During  1907  the  Italian  government  was  engaged  in  inaugur- 
ating much-needed  railway  reforms,  the  railroads  of  the  country 
having  been  in  a  deplorable  state.  Owing  to  the  new  regulations, 
they  were  much  improved.  This  same  year,  Italy  ratified  the 
Italo-Argentine  treaty  of  Arbitration  at  the  Hague  from  which  the 
country  has  already  derived  considerable  benefit. 

On  December  28,  1908,  an  earthquake  occurred  in  Calabria  and 
Sicily  and  in  less  than  five  minutes  two  hundred  thousand  lives  and 
more  than  $1,000,000,000  worth  of  property  had  been  destroyed. 
The  cities  of  Reggio  and  Messina  and  several  smaller  towns  were 
reduced  to  heaps  of  ruins.     A  few  seconds  after  the  first  shock — 


CONDITION    OF    KINGDOM  406a 

1900-1910 

there  were  several  shocks,  the  first  being  the  most  violent — the  sea 
swelled  and  rose  in  a  wall  thirty-five  feet  high  and  swept  over  the 
streets  near  the  water  fronts.  The  number  of  people  killed  out- 
right was  appalling,  but  the  sufferings  of  the  wounded  were  even 
more  heart-rending.  Not  only  did  they  suffer  from  their  injuries, 
but  they  were  tormented  by  hunger  and  cold,  as  all  food  was  de- 
stroyed and  a  cold  storm  of  rain  and  sleet  succeeded  the  first  shock. 
Russian  warships  were  the  first  to  send  aid  to  the  survivors;  sailors 
from  their  vessels  in  the  harbor  of  Messina  landed,  rescued  many 
of  the  inhabitants,  and  carried  away  hundreds  of  them.  Close 
behind  the  Russians  were  the  Germans,  British  and  Americans.  In 
a  short  while  money  and  food  poured  in  from  all  over  the  world. 
Queen  Helena  and  King  Victor  Emmanuel  went  to  the  stricken  dis- 
trict immediately  upon  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  disaster  and  per- 
sonally labored  in  the  work  of  rescue.  The  Italian  Parliament  met 
in  special  session  on  January  8,  1909,  to  provide  ways  and  means  to 
meet  the  situation  and  take  care  of  the  destitute  population. 

On  the  first  and  second  Sundays  of  March,  1909,  the  seventh 
and  fourteenth  of  the  month,  general  elections  were  held  in  Italy 
for  members  of  Parliament,  resulting  very  favorably  for  the  gov- 
ernment, which  now  has  350  members  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
against  158  of  the  opposition.  Premier  Gioletti  was  returned  from 
his  own  district  with  an  increased  majority. 

On  August  31,  1909,  Rome  was  shaken  to  its  foundations  by  a 
severe  earthquake  shock,  and  many  feared  that  the  terrible  tragedy 
of  the  year  previous  would  be  repeated.  On  September  14,  Mt. 
Vesuvius  again  became  active,  showing  that  Italy  was  in  the  throes 
of  some  general  natural  internal  commotion. 

In  the  death  of  Cecare  Lombroso,  Italy  lost  one  of  her  most 
distinguished  scientists,  he  passing  away  October  9,  1909,  after  a 
long  and  useful  life  of  seventy-three  years,  the  mature  portion  of 
which  was  actively  devoted  to  criminology.  The  most  important 
event  of  1909,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Italians,  was  the  visit  of  the  Czar 
to  Victor  Emmanuel,  the  first  he  has  paid  the  country,  although 
several  others  had  been  contemplated,  but  not  made  for  state 
reasons.  From  October  24  to  the  27,  Racconigi  was  in  festal 
array,  the  two  monarchs  meeting  here  and  exchanging  the  courte- 
sies of  their  respective  countries.  During  this  same  fall,  the  Italian 
government  decided  to  build  a  fleet  of  dirigibles  after  the  success- 
ful flight  of  their  military  dirigible,  One  Bis. 


40Gb  ITALY 

1900-1910 

In  December,  1909,  occurred  two  events  of  interest  to  art 
lovers  and  scientists,  one  being  the  gift  of  a  $500,000  villa  to  the 
American  Academy  at  Rome,  and  the  other  the  opening  on  the 
12,  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  International  Institute  of 
Agriculture  at  Rome,  at  which  forty-six  countries  were  represented. 
Italy  has  trouble  with  her  working  men  as  well  as  other  coun- 
tries, and  in  the  early  part  of  1910,  it  culminated  in  a  riot  at  Naples, 
involving  20,000  people,  due  to  the  increase  in  the  rents  asked  for 
the  houses  occupied  by  working  men. 


Chapter   LI 

LITERATURE  AND  ART  OF  MODERN   ITALY 

THE  earliest  attempts  at  literary  composition  in  the  modern 
Romance  dialects  were  those  of  the  Provengal  poets  or 
troubadours.  Their  songs,  written  in  a  language  closely 
allied  to  the  dialects  of  North  Italy,  easily  found  entrance  into  that 
country,  and  served  as  examples  of  composition  in  popular  language 
which  were  soon  followed  throughout  the  whole  peninsula,  and  more 
especially  in  Sicily.  These  early  compositions  prepared  the  way 
for  Dante,  Boccaccio,  and  Petrarch,  who  adorned  the  first  rise  of 
Italian  literature  with  a  genius  and  a  glory  that  have  never  been 
eclipsed  to  the  present  day.  Of  their  merits  we  have  already  spoken 
in  a  former  chapter. 

The  second  era  of  Italian  literature,  that  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, and  represented  mainly  by  the  scholars  who  clustered  around 
the  court  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  was  altogether  of  a  different  char- 
acter. The  romantic  age  had  passed ;  the  classical  age  had  now 
set  in.  Every  scholar  considered  it  his  first  duty  to  go  back  to  the 
models  of  antiquity,  and  his  greatest  glory  was  to  be  able  to  write 
Latin  prose  and  poetry  with  purity  and  elegance.  So  great  was 
the  love  of  classical  antiquity  that  modern  ideas,  even  those  of 
Christian  theology,  were  looked  upon  with  a  certain  amount  of 
indifference  and  contempt.  Philology  flourished  to  an  unprece- 
dented degree,  testified  by  the  names  of  Poggio  Bracciolini,  Lau- 
rentius  Valla,  Marcilius  Ficino,  Pico  of  Mirandola,  and  a  num- 
ber of  others,  whose  reputation  for  classical  learning  has  come 
down  even  to  the  present  day.  Under  these  influences  it  is  no 
wonder  that  native  Italian  literature  languished,  and  that  no  great 
popular  poets  or  writers  arose  to  carry  onward  the  impulse 
given  by  Dante  and  Petrarch.  The  learning  and  culture  of  the  age 
indeed  were  remarkable,  far  excelling  what  then  existed  in  any 
other  country ;  but  they  developed  themselves  in  the  form  of  imita- 
tions of  classical  antiquity  rather  than  in  the  development  of  native 
genius. 

407 


408  ITALY 

The  next  era  of  Italian  literature,  however,  that  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  showed  a  great  revival  of  national  life.  It  was  the 
age  of  the  so-termed  Cinquecentisti — the  age  of  Leo  X.,  of  Raphael 
and  Michael  Angelo,  of  Ariosto,  Machiavelli,  and  Tasso.  While 
in  most  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe  the  dawn  of  the  revival 
of  letters  was  only  just  appearing,  Italy  was  now  enjoying  its 
meridian  splendor,  and  attracting  scholars  from  every  part  of 
Europe  to  bask  in  the  sunshine.  Historians,  biographers,  poets, 
essayists,  critics,  novelists,  jurists,  mathematicians,  and  metaphysi- 
cians of  greater  or  lesser  degree  of  excellence  abounded  in  every  part 
of  the  country,  not  to  mention  the  great  masters  of  Italian  art.  Nu- 
merous academies  of  science  and  literature  were  formed  in  the  larger 
towns,  and  would  doubtless  have  continued  to  maintain  the  glorious 
intellectual  position  to  which  the  country  had  been  raised  had  not  the 
deadening  influence  of  the  Spanish  occupation,  and  the  bitter  per- 
secution with  which  the  Inquisition  visited  all  attempts  at  free 
thought  and  scientific  development,  soon  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
country,  and  repressed  all  independent  literary  activity. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  seventeenth 
century  showed  a  great  falling  off  in  the  whole  character  and  extent 
of  Italian  literature.  Still,  individuals  arose  from  time  to  time  who 
maintained  the  honor  of  their  country,  and  took  their  place  in  the 
great  European  republic  of  letters.  It  is,  however,  rather  in  the 
department  of  science  and  philosophy  than  that  of  poetry  and  litera- 
ture that  the  seventeenth  century  especially  distinguished  itself.  It 
was  now  that  Galileo  discovered  the  pendulum,  and  was  threatened 
with  the  strong  hand  of  the  Inquisition  for  maintaining  the  revolu- 
tion of  the  earth  round  the  sun.  It  was  during  this  age  that  Volta 
and  Torricelli  made  those  magnetic  discoveries  which  have  handed 
their  names  down  to  posterity. 

It  was  somewhat  later  in  the  same  century  that  Vico  wrote  the 
"  Scienza  Nuova,"  and  formed  in  so  doing  an  epoch  in  the  depart- 
ments of  philosophy  and  history;  that  Antonio  Serra  became  cele- 
brated for  his  contributions  to  political  science,  and  that  Muratori 
laid  the  foundation  for  a  deeper  method  of  historical  criticism. 

But  the  national  spirit  which  alone  gives  rise  to  the  higher 
forms  of  literature  was  now  at  a  low  ebb.  The  country  was  invaded 
by  a  passion  for  imitating  French  models,  and  it  was  not  till  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  a  new  life  began  to  spring 
up,  and  a  new  literature  to  make  its  appearance.     This  revival  of 


LITERATURE     AND     ART  409 

native  literary  activity  was  heralded  by  Goldoni,  whose  writings 
gave  a  new  stimulus  to  the  national  drama  and  prepared  the  way 
for  Alfieri x  to  reconstruct  the  tragedy.  Neither  was  it  in  poetry 
and  the  drama  only  that  the  revival  of  Italian  literature  manifested 
itself.  Carlo  Denina  obtained  so  great  a  reputation  as  a  historical 
writer  that,  after  having  completed  his  great  w7ork  on  the  revolu- 
tions of  Italy,  he  was  invited  by  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  to  Berlin, 
with  the  view  of  writing  a  similar  work  on  the  revolutions  of  Ger- 
many. His  reputation  was  equally  great  in  France  likewise,  where 
he  was  appointed  chief  librarian  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I. 
Neither  ought  we  to  pass  over  the  name  of  Antonio  Cesari,  who  la- 
bored so  long  and  so  successfully  to  bring  back  the  Italian  language 
to  its  original  purity;  or  that  of  Vincenzo  Monti,  the  patriot-poet, 
beloved  by  all  the  learned  and  honored  by  Napoleon  himself  as  the 
most  remarkable  man  of  his  time;  or  Silvio  Pellico,  renowned  for 
the  pathetic  beauty  with  which  he  related  the  story  of  his  imprison- 
ment in  the  castle  of  Spielberg.  But  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth 
century  saw  Italy  once  more  in  a  state  of  political  convulsion  from 
one  end  to  the  other.  Napoleon  carried  his  victorious  arms  from 
the  Alps  to  the  extreme  south  of  Calabria,  and  all  the  old  political 
landmarks,  as  'we  have  already  seen,  were  completely  obliterated. 
But  the  downfall  of  the  conqueror  soon  altered  this  new  state  of 
things,  and  the  Congress  of  Vienna  restored  all  the  legitimate  sov- 
ereigns once  again  to  their  respective  capitals.  Then  came  the  action 
of  the  secret  societies,  the  rise  of  the  party  of  independence,  and  the 
renewed  struggle  against  foreign  despotism.  The  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  which  shook  so  many  European  sovereigns  on 
their  thrones,  gave  opportunity  for  the  national  party  in  Italy  once 
more  to  erect  their  banner  in  the  light  of  day,  and  enabled  them 
at  length,  after  twenty  years'  struggle,  to  secure  the  unity  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  country.  During  all  this  time  there  was  little  leisure 
for  literary  effort,  and  what  there  was  naturally  bore  upon  it  more 
or  less  of  a  political  character.  Still,  men  of  distinguished  ability 
as  writers  were  not  wanting.  Rosmini,  for  example,  in  addition  to 
his  works  on  biography  and  history,  attempted  to  introduce  the  study 
of  mental  philosophy  into  his  country,  inspired  by  the  renown  of 
the  Scottish  metaphysical  school  and  its  French  imitators.    Gioberti 

1  See  "Die  italienische  Einhcitsidee  in  ihrer  litterarischen  Entwicklung 
von  Parini  bis  Mansoni"  by  O.  Bulle,  Berlin,  1893;  "Modern  Italy,"  by 
P.  Orsi,  ch.  xx. 


410  ITALY 

followed  in  the  same  track,  though  combating  many  of  the  philo- 
sophical ideas  which  Rosmini  had  advocated.  But  as  the  age  ad- 
vanced, and  the  political  agitations  of  the  times  absorbed  the  whole 
attention  of  the  country,  he  joined  himself,  though  a  priest,  to  the 
moderate  Liberal  party,  and  became  the  most  celebrated  political 
writer  of  his  time.  His  work,  entitled  "  77  Primato  civile  e  morale 
degV  Italiani,"  made  an  extraordinary  impression  on  the  country, 
advocating  as  it  did  a  liberal  reconstruction  of  Italian  politics  on  the 
basis  of  a  reformed  Papacy. 

The  form  of  the  historical  novel  (a  style  of  literature  hitherto 
almost  unknown  in  Italy)  now  appeared  as  a  popular  method  of 
advocating  political  freedom.  The  most  celebrated  writer  of  this 
class  was  Alexander  Manzoni  (born  in  Milan,  1784).  His  early 
literary  efforts  were  chiefly  confined  to  lyrical  poetry  and  the  drama, 
in  which  latter  department  he  cooperated  with  Alfieri  in  restoring 
the  national  tragedy  to  a  more  perfect  form.  The  work,  however, 
with  which  his  name  is  more  associated,  and  on  which  his  reputation 
chiefly  rests,  is  the  "  Promessi  Sposi"  where  he  pictures  the  life  of 
the  Italian  people  in  the  seventeenth  century  under  the  leaden  yoke 
of  the  Spanish  dominion.  Since  the  appearance  of  this  work  the 
historical  novel  has  become  perhaps  the  most  popular  form  of  literary 
activity  in  Italy,  and  a  fair  amount  of  success  has  been  achieved  by 
a  number  of  more  modern  writes.  Of  these,  the  two  first  and  fore- 
most are  Massimo  d'Azeglio  and  Tommaso  Grossi.  The  "  Ettore 
Fieromosca  "  and  "  Niccolo  di  Lapi  "  of  the  former  and  the  "  Marco 
Visconti "  of  the  latter  present  as  perfect  specimens  of  historical 
romance  as  can  be  found  in  any  language  of  Europe.  Gabriele 
d'Annunzio,  born  1862,  is  one  of  the  best  known  of  present  day 
Italian  writers,  both  of  novels  and  of  dramas.  Opinion  is  violently 
divided  as  to  his  merits,  but  it  may  safely  be  said  that  his  plays,  even 
when  interpreted  by  Duse,  have  not  been  a  success.  His  psychologi- 
cal romances  are  more  popular,  but,  like  his  plays,  are  morbid  and 
abnormal.  To  quote  names  of  authors,  for  the  most  part  unknown 
out  of  their  own  country,  would  be  useless  in  so  brief  a  historical 
sketch  as  the  present.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Italy,  having  gained  her 
independence,  and  being  now  relieved  from  political  agitation,  has 
already  begun  to  promote  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  spread  of  national 
education.  Schools  for  the  people  are  being  multiplied  throughout 
the  country,  lyceums  and  colleges  are  being  reconstructed  and  de- 
veloped, and  a  course  of  internal  improvement  set  in  which  we  trust 


LITERATURE     AND     ART  411 

may  in  the  course  of  time  raise  Italy  once  more  to  the  highest  dignity 
among  the  civilized  and  literary  nations  of  Europe.  The  essential 
nature  of  Italian  genius  has  been  and  is  mainly  applied  to  working 
out  economic  and  social  problems.  Of  the  amazing  output  of  this 
economic,  sociological,  and  scientific  literature  it  is  not  our  prov- 
ince to  treat.  Many  of  its  exponents  are  men  of  European  fame; 
Lombroso  in  criminology,  Grossi  in  biology,  Lari  in  economics, 
Villari  in  history,  are  but  a  few. 

Turning  to  art,  we  find  that  the  disciples  of  Michael  Angelo 
carried  his  severe  and  classical  taste  into  all  parts  of  the  country. 
Sansavino  labored  successfully  in  Venice,  and  Benvenuto  Cellini  in 
Florence,  while  Guglielmo  della  Porte  became  the  first  artist  of  his 
age  in  Lombardy.  But  as  the  first  traditions  of  the  school  of  Michael 
Angelo  passed  away,  the  sculptors  of  the  seventeenth  century  began 
to  aim  at  fine  and  curious  execution,  rather  than  classical  purity  of 
form  and  feeling.  This  new  style  came  into  prominence  under  the 
influence  of  Bernini,  a  Neapolitan  of  great  genius  but  questionable 
taste.  The  style  now  brought  into  vogue  was  the  very  reverse  of 
that  which  is  seen  in  the  great  models  of  antiquity.  In  these,  the 
pervading  characteristic  was  simplicity  of  expression,  united  with 
most  perfect  form.  In  the  age  we  now  refer  to,  simplicity  was  the 
last  thing  to  be  aimed  at.  On  the  contrary,  the  composition  of  the 
figures  was  complicated,  the  action  forced,  the  attitudes  more  or  less 
affected,  the  surroundings  glittering  and  tawdry.  Many  specimens 
of  Bernini's  taste  are  to  be  seen  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  where  the 
skill  shown  is  undoubtedly  very  great,  and  the  effects  striking,  but 
the  whole  execution  as  far  as  possible  removed  from  the  severe  sim- 
plicity and  grandeur  of  ancient  art.  The  works  of  succeeding  artists 
only  show  that  the  higher  traditions  of  true  art  were  obscured. 
Throughout  the  seventeenth  century  Italy  produced  almost  nothing 
of  superior  merit,  while  the  people  and  patrons  of  art  seemed  to 
have  lost  all  taste  for  the  highest  and  purest  forms  of  plastic  genius. 

The  honor  of  bringing  back  a  recognition  of  the  true  principles 
of  taste  is  due  in  Italy  mainly  to  Canova  (born  1757,  died  1822). 
Canova  began  his  career  in  the  studios  of  some  two  or  three  of  the 
best  artists  in  Venice,  but  in  the  year  1799  removed  to  Rome,  where 
he  habitually  resided  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  His  first  great  work, 
the  Dsedalus  and  Icarus,  which  he  exhibited  at  Rome  when  only 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  already  showed  that  he  had  begun  to  work 
according  to  the  traditions  of  the  purer  style  of  antiquity;  and  his 


412  ITALY 

subsequent  labors  brought  this  style  back  to  such  perfection  that  it 
heralded  a  complete  revival  of  artistic  taste  in  the  country.  His 
Cupid  and  Psyche,  his  group  of  Hercules  and  Lycas,  his  Theseus 
with  the  Centaur,  and  many  of  his  statues  of  graces  and  nymphs 
form  some  of  the  principal  attractions  to  the  lovers  of  true  art  in 
Italy. 

So  many  artists  from  France,  Germany,  Denmark,  England, 
and  America,  however,  have  since  that  time  established  themselves 
in  Italy,  chiefly  in  Rome  and  Florence,  that  the  plastic  art  of  Italy 
has  become  merged  in  the  general  stream  of  European  progress,  as 
shown  in  the  whole  artistic  development  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  revival  of  the  art  of  sculpture  took  place  in  various  coun- 
tries of  Europe  almost  contemporaneously.  Not  so  with  painting. 
This  was  an  art  at  first  almost  exclusively  Italian,  and  it  was  from 
Italy  that  its  spirit  was  carried  into  other  countries.  The  rise  of 
the  modern  art  of  painting  dates  about  half  a  century  later  than  that 
of  sculpture.  Nicola  of  Pisa  began  his  career  as  a  sculptor  about 
the  year  1200.  Cimabue,  who  is  usually  considered  to  be  the  first 
of  the  great  old  Italian  masters,  was  born  at  Florence  in  the  year 
1240,  and  his  pupil  Giotto  in  1276.  Hitherto  painting  had  been  con- 
fined almost  exclusively  to  Scriptural  subjects,  being  in  fact  hardly 
more  than  the  expansion,  on  a  large  scale,  of  the  Middle  Age  illumi- 
nations usually  attached  to  religious  manuscripts.  Giotto  began  to 
copy  from  real  life,  and  thus  entered  upon  a  career  of  artistic  effort 
which  soon  produced  marvelous  results.  The  fourteenth  century 
produced  a  number  of  painters  of  the  schools  of  Florence  and  Siena, 
who  made,  indeed,  some  small  advance  upon  the  first  masters  of  the 
art,  but  did  not  originate  any  new  style  of  execution.  But  early  in 
the  fifteenth  century  Florence  gave  rise  to  a  new  school  of  painters, 
whose  works  show  a  marked  advance  upon  their  predecessors. 
Among  them  we  reckon  Fra  Angelico,  Botticelli,  and  Benozzo  Goz- 
zoli.  Among  the  masters  of  the  Florentine  school  of  this  age,  too, 
was  Ghirlandaio  (born  1541),  who  executed  frescos  both  in  the 
churches  of  Florence  and  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome,  and  lias 
the  great  distinction  of  being  the  master  of  Michael  Angelo.  Look- 
ing at  other  parts  of  Italy,  we  find  Petro  Perugino  in  Perugia; 
Francia,  father  and  son,  in  Bologna;  Lorenzo  Corta  at  Ferrara; 
and  a  number  of  other  artists  dispersed  through  the  different  large 
towns,  all  of  whom  aided  in  preparing  the  way  for  that  won- 
derful development  of  artistic  genius  which  characterized  the  fif- 


LITERATURE     AND     ART  413 

teenth  century,  and  which  produced  Michael  Angelo,  Leonardo  da 
Vinci,  Raphael,  Giorgione,  and  Titian.  Of  these  it  may  be  said 
that  they  carried  the  art  of  painting  to  the  highest  perfection 
which  it  has  ever  attained,  that  their  works  are  to  this  day  the 
admiration  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  and  that  their  pictures 
are  models  which  students  of  all  nations  copy  as  the  highest  means 
of  self-cultivation  and  improvement.  If  we  turn  now  from  Rome 
and  Florence  to  the  more  northern  parts  of  Italy,  we  see 
the  fine  arts  flourishing  there  also  with  hardly  less  vigor  and  suc- 
cess. The  Roman  school  under  Raphael  and  his  pupils  had 
brought  beauty  of  form  to  its  highest  perfection;  but  there  were 
other  qualities  yet  to  be  developed.  Correggio  (born  near  Parma, 
1494)  discovered  the  secret  of  light  and  shade  to  a  degree  hitherto 
unknown ;  while  the  Venetian  school,  headed  by  Titian,  brought  the 
art  of  coloring  to  the  highest  perfection. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  these  varied  masters  that  the 
school  of  Bologna  (called  the  Eclectic)  arose,  in  which  the  attempt 
was  made  to  combine  the  excellencies  of  all  the  others.  This  school 
was  headed  by  Ludovico  Caracci  and  his  two  nephews,  and  num- 
bered among  its  pupils  Dominichino  and  Guido  Reni.  From  this 
time  the  glory  of  the  Italian  school  of  art  gradually  declined.  Many 
great  names,  indeed,  still  appear  at  intervals  throughout  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  centuries.  Sasso  Ferrato,  Carlo  Dolci, 
Salvator  Rosa,  and  Canaletto  (uncle  and  nephew),  all  attained 
excellence  in  their  own  peculiar  style;  but  as  the  art  of  painting- 
attained  greater  perfection  in  other  countries,  the  more  exclusive 
claims  of  Italy  as  the  land  of  art  have  naturally  disappeared.  It 
would  be  altogether  wrong  to  conclude  from  this  that  artistic 
talent  no  longer  exists  in  those  places  where  for  so  long  it  reigned 
almost  supreme.  Italy  still  continues  to  produce  sculptors  and 
painters  who  can  compare  without  disadvantage  with  those  of 
England,  France,  and  Germany ;  and  not  only  this,  but  to  whatever 
height  of  excellence  art  may  attain  in  these  latter  countries,  it  must 
always  be  conceded  that  Italy  has  been  the  school  in  which  they 
have  studied,  and  without  which,  in  all  human  probability,  such 
excellence  would  never  have  been  reached. 

We  must  not  conclude  this  short  notice  of  Italian  art  without 
referring  to  the  subject  of  Italian  music,  which  is  one  of  Italy's  chief 
glories  to-day.  Like  painting  and  sculpture,  music  was  first  used  as 
an  aid  to  the  offices  of  religion  in  the  churches.     Archbishop  Am- 


414  ITALY 

brose  of  Milan,  in  the  fourth  century,  is  said  to  have  borrowed  sacred 
hymns  and  chants  from  the  East,  and  introduced  them  into  the  serv- 
ices of  the  Western  Church.  However  this  may  be,  certain  it  is 
that  Gregory  I.,  in  the  seventh  century,  made  a  great  improvement  in 
the  ordinary  musical  notation,  and  introduced  the  kind  of  chant 
which  has  borne  his  name  down  to  the  present  day.  As  yet,  however, 
harmony  was  not  invented.  The  songs  and  chants  then  in  vogue, 
whether  secular  or  sacred,  were  all  sung  in  unison,  either  with  or 
without  simple  instrumental  accompaniments.  In  the  tenth  century, 
however,  the  use  of  harmony  began  to  be  introduced.  We  cannot 
say,  indeed,  that  it  was  an  Italian  invention,  since  the  elements  of 
harmony  were  known  and  practiced  in  France  and  Germany  before 
this  time,  and  it  seems  probable  that  they  were  first  introduced  into 
Italy  from  those  countries.  By  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
both  the  science  and  art  of  music  had  made  great  progress.  One  of 
the  earliest  composers  in  Italy  was  Palestrina  (born  1524,  died 
1594).  Born  in  the  town  of  that  name,  he  was  sent  to  Rome  as 
chorister,  and  studied  music  under  Claude  Goudimel,  a  Dutch  musi- 
cian established  in  that  city.  Palestrina,  in  consequence  of  his  great 
reputation  as  a  musician,  was  employed  by  the  cardinals  to  compose 
some  masses  to  replace  the  wretched  compositions  then  ordinarily 
heard  in  the  Italian  churches.  These  masses,  three  in  number,  at- 
tained the  highest  reputation,  and  came  to  be  sung  in  all  the  best 
churches  in  Rome.  His  "  Stabat  Mater/'  for  eight  voices,  is  sung 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel  every  year  to  the  present  day. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  a  new  form  of 
music  began  to  make  its  appearance  in  several  of  the  larger  towns, 
assuming  a  somewhat  dramatic  character.  Mystery  plays,  oratorios, 
and  sacred  concerts  adapted  to  the  Italian  character  began  to  be 
performed,  in  which  solo,  recitative,  and  dramatic  melodies  were 
sung  with  instrumental  accompaniments.  One  of  the  most  cele- 
brated composers  in  this  branch  of  musical  performance  was  Alex- 
ander Scarlatti,  born  in  Naples  in  1658.  He  is  said  to  have  written 
two  hundred  masses,  but  his  chief  reputation  rests  upon  his  efforts 
in  the  composition  of  operas.  In  order  to  introduce  the  Italian  opera 
into  Germany,  he  was  appointed  in  1680  as  composer  to  the  court  of 
Bavaria.  His  great  opera,  "  La  Principessa  Fidcle"  is  even  now 
regarded  as  a  master  work  of  the  time.  From  this  period  forward 
Venice  and  Naples  became  the  chief  supporters  of  the  opera,  and  a 
number  of  musicians  arose  who,  encouraged  by  the  popularity  of 


LITERATURE     AND     ART  415 

operatic  music,  labored  to  improve  and  develop  it.  Among  these 
should  be  mentioned  especially  Pergolese  (born  1710),  Jomelli 
(born  1714),  and  Cimarosa  (born  1755).  All  these  distinguished 
themselves  first  of  all  in  the  composition  of  ecclesiastical  music, 
which  is  held  in  reputation  in  the  present  day.  But  they  also  devoted 
their  genius  to  the  improvement  of  operatic  music,  which  under  their 
hands  arrived  at  a  very  considerable  degree  of  perfection.  Thus, 
then,  this  new  nursling  of  Italy,  the  opera,  began  to  grow  up  to 
maturity,  caressed  and  admired  both  at  home  and  abroad.  At  length 
a  musician  arose  who  brought  the  opera  to  its  highest  perfection, 
namely,  Rossini.  Rossini  was  born  at  Pesaro,  in  the  Romagna,  in 
the  year  1792.  His  father  was  a  strolling  musician,  his  mother 
a  singer  in  any  of  the  small  theaters  where  she  could  get  a  temporary 
appointment.  Rossini  himself,  when  a  boy,  sang  with  his  mother  in 
the  theaters  of  Bologna,  and  seems  to  have  derived  his  first  musical 
inspirations  from  this  source.  He  never  attended  any  proper  school 
of  music,  or  enjoyed  any  education  of  a  scientific  kind,  but  appears 
to  have  educated  himself  by  reading  and  performing  the  works  of 
the  best  composers  of  the  age.  He  began  to  compose  at  sixteen 
years  of  age,  and  between  the  years  1808  and  1829  he  wrote  forty 
operas,  among  which  are  "  Tancredi,"  "  //  Barbiere  di  Siviglia" 
"  Otcllo"  "  Mose  in  E git to"  "  La  Gazza  Ladra"  "  S  emir  am- 
ide" and  "  Guillaume  Tell."  The  opera,  being  thus  brought  to 
its  most  perfect  form,  called  forth  the  energies  and  efforts  of  many 
young  Italian  musicians.  Among  these  we  must  especially  mention 
Bellini,  born  at  Catania,  in  Sicily,  in  1802,  to  whom  we  owe 
"  Norma,"  the  "  Sonnambula"  and  the  "  Puritani " ;  and  Donizetti, 
native  of  Bergamo.  Donizetti  devoted  himself  first  to  church  music, 
but  finding  that  he  acquired  but  little  fame  and  less  money  in  this 
sphere,  he  turned  to  the  composition  of  operatic  music,  and  pro- 
duced, among  other  renowned  operas,  the  "  Lucia  di  Lammermoor," 
"  La  Figlia  del  Regimento"  and  "  L'Elisire  d'Amore."  Bellini  died 
in  1835  and  Donizetti  in  1848.  Since  that  time  Verdi,  who  was 
born  in  18 13  and  died  in  190 1,  has  been  the  foremost  Italian  com- 
poser, scoring  great  successes  with  "  Ernani"  "  Rigolctto,"  "  Trova- 
tore"  "  Traviata"  "  A'ida"  and  "  Otcllo."  Pietro  Mascagni,  born 
in  1863,  is  well  and  favorably  known  to-day.  France  and  Germany 
have  both  learned  to  compete  with  Italy  in  this  special  department ; 
so  that  the  opera,  though  cradled  in  Italy,  has  become,  in  its  man- 
hood, altogether  European. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  object  of  this  bibliography  is  to  offer  to  the  reader  a  list  of  some  of 
the  standard  books  on  the  period  covered  by  this  volume.  In  most  cases  a 
word  or  two  of  comment  is  subjoined  in  order  to  facilitate  a  course  of  more 
detailed  reading.  A  chronological  arrangement  has  seemed  best,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  for  topics  of  particular  importance,  as  the  Papacy.  For  so 
extended  a  period,  the  amount  of  literature  is,  of  course,  vast,  and  those  wishing 
a  more  detailed  bibliography  are  referred  to  books  dealing  with  restricted  periods 
within  the  larger  one  treated  in  this  history. 

GENERAL  HISTORIES  OF  ITALY 

Cantu,  C. — "  Histoire  des  Italiens."    Paris,  1859.     12  vols. 

It  comprises  the  whole  history  of  Italy  to  1859.  Cantu  is  interesting  and 
suggestive,  but  is  manifestly  a  Republican  and  a  Roman  Catholic.  He  lays 
his  chief  stress  on  the  habits  and  institutions  of  the  people  rather  than  on 
external  facts.  The  author  has  written  a  considerable  amount  on  Italian 
history  and  has  a  fair  reputation. 

Heinrich,  L. — "  Geschichte  von  Italien."    Hamburg,  1829-1832.    5  vols. 

Although  of  course  antiquated  in  many  ways,  it  was  for  long  one  of  the  best, 
if  not  the  best,  of  the  general  histories  of  Italy.  It  has  many  good  points 
to  recommend  it. 

Hunt,  W. — "  History  of  Italy."    London,  1874. 

A  good  example  of  the  "primer  series,"  for  the  use  of  schools;  edited  by 
E.  A.  Freeman.  A  bird's-eye  view. 

Villari,  P.—"Storia  Politico  d'ltalia."  (Antiquity  to  1878.)  Milan,  1879-1881. 
8  vols. 
Written  by  a  "  Society  of  Friends."  Villari,  the  editor  of  the  series,  is  a 
noted  political  philosopher  and  has  a  wide  reputation  among  contemporary 
Italian  historians.  As  the  title  indicates,  the  volumes  deal  largely  with  the 
political  aspect  of  Italian  history.  One  of  the  most  satisfactory  of  the 
general  histories  and  one  of  the  best  and  most  modern  written  by  Italians. 

Zeller,  J. — "  Histoire  Resumee  d'ltalie."    Paris,  1886. 

Embraces  the  period  from  395  a.  d.  to  1878.  The  author  has  written  other 
books  on  Italy  and  is  well  esteemed  in  France.  This  book  has  the  French 
merit  of  system  and  clearness,  and  in  its  600  pages  gives  a  readable  and, 
on  the  whole,  accurate  account  of  the  period. 

THE  ROMAN   REPUBLIC  AND  EMPIRE 

Botsford,  G.  W. — "A  History  of  Rome"  (for  Schools  and  Academies).     New 

York,  1901. 

In  spite  of  its  designation  "  for  schools  and  academies,"  this  volume,  like 

that  by  the  same  author  on  "  Greece,"  is  of  great  use  to  the  general  reader. 

It  covers  the  period  from  the  earliest  days  to  Charlemagne  in  350  pages 

419 


V20  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

and  is  therefore  little  but  an  outline,  but  is  a  most  admirable  one.     It  con- 
tains a  short  bibliography. 

Ihne,  W. — "The  History  of  Rome."  London,  1871-1877.  (Translation.)  3  vols. 
One  of  the  great  authorities  on  Roman  history,  along  with  Mommsen.  The 
method  of  the  book  is  peculiar.  The  author  brings  before  the  reader  the 
process  of  the  critical  analysis  of  the  sources,  showing  what  he  considers 
certain  and  what  conjectural  and  leaves  the  reader  to  draw  the  conclusion. 

Merivale,  Dean  Charles. — "A  general  History  of  Rome."  (b.  c.  753-476  a.  d.) 
New  York,  1876. 
The  author  has  known  how  to  succeed  in  the  most  difficult  of  tasks — to  write 
a  general  history  of  a  long  period  which  shall  be  interesting,  scholarly,  and 
sufficiently  complete.  He  knew  what  to  omit  and  what  to  present.  The 
best  one-volume  history  in  English  for  the  period,  probably. 

Mommsen,  T. — "The  History  of  Rome."  (Translation.)  New  York,  1869.  4 
vols. 
It  has  been  the  scholar's  history  par  excellence,  and  yet  popular  with 
all  students  and  intelligent  general  readers.  A  brilliant  work,  but  one 
which  presupposes  some  knowledge  of  the  subject.  Mommsen  is  by  no 
means  free  from  partisanship  and  his  conjectures,  of  which  there  are  many, 
should  not  be  implicitly  accepted. 

Gibbon,  E. — "The  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the   Roman   Empire." 
Edited  by  ]'.  B.  Bury,  New  York,  1897.    7  vols. 
Of  the  many  editions  of  this  classic,  Bury's  is  considered  the  best,  the  editor 
being  himself  an  authority  for  the  period  (see  his  "  Later  Roman  Empire, 
from  Arcadius  to  Irene."    London,  1889.    2  vols.). 

MEDIEVAL  ITALY  (476  a.  c-1400) 

Hodgkin,  T. — "  Italy  and  Her  Invaders."     Oxford,  1895-1896.  4  vols. 

The  chief  work  in  English  on  the  period  of  the  Teutonic  invasions ;  exhaus- 
tive, but  based  on  secondary  authorities  rather  than  on  original  research. 

Muratori,  L.  A. — "  Annali  d' Italia."  (1  a.  d.- 1827.)     Florence,  1827.     40  vols. 
Contains  digests  of  original  writings.     Muratori  is,  on  the  whole,  accurate 
and,  considering  the  date  at  which  he  wrote,  to  be  relied  on.     But  he  is 
unnecessarily  long-drawn-out. 

Sismondi,  J.  C.  L.  Simonde  de. — "  Histoire  des  Republiques  Italiennes."  (476  a.  a- 
180^.)  Paris,  1841.  10  vols. 
For  long  recognized  as  the  standard  authority ;  it  is  eloquent  and  interesting, 
scholarly  and  exhaustive.  But  it  was  written  in  the  years  from  1796  to 
1818,  and  is  now  considerably  antiquated,  so  that  much  of  it  can  no  longer 
be  accepted  as  authoritative.  It  deals  chiefly  with  the  years  from  476  to 
1500. 

Heyd,   W.   von. — "  Geschichte   des  Levantshandels  im   Mittclalter."     Stuttgart, 
1879.    2  vols. 
Deals  with  the  important  subject  of  Italy's  Oriental  Trade  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  is  perhaps  the  most  authoritative  work. 

THE  RENAISSANCE 

Armstrong,  F. — "  Lorenzo  de'  Medici."    ("  Heroes  of  the  Nations.")    New  York, 

1902. 
An  interesting  and  reliable  account  of  Florence  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Burckhardt,   J. — "Die   Kultur  der  Renaissance   in  Italien."     Leipsic,    1899.     2 

vols.    (Translation,  London,  1878.    2  vols.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  421 

This  book,  the  product  of  some  of  the  best  type  of  German  scholarship,  has 
since  its  publication  been  preeminent  in  this  field  about  which  so  much  has 
been  written. 

Machiavelli,  N. — "History  of  Florence;  the  Prince,"  etc.  (Translated.)  Lon- 
don, 1898. 
While  somewhat  inaccurate  in  matters  of  detail,  it  is  famous  not  only  for 
its  attractive  style,  but  as  being  one  of  the  first  "  modern  histories."  The 
history  of  Florence  was  written  to  please  Cardinal  Julius  de'  Medici  (Pope 
Clement  VII.).  This  work,  Hallam  says,  "is  enough  to  immortalize  the 
name  of  Machiavelli."  It  has  had  a  vast  influence  on  Italian  literature.  As 
for  "the  Prince,"  it  has  been  the  subject  of  attacks  of  greater  fierceness 
than  almost  any  other  writing;  to-day  it  is  regarded  in  a  truer  and  less 
harsh  light. 

Symonds,  J.  A. — "  A  History  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy."    London,  1875-1886.    7 
vols. 
This  great  work  comprises  the  following  subdivisions; 
Vol.  1.  "  The  Age  of  the  Despots." 
Vol.  2.  "  The  Revival  of  Learning." 
Vol.  3.  "The  Fine  Arts." 
Vols.  4  and  5.    "  Italian  Literature." 
Vols.  6  and  7.   "  The  Catholic  Reaction." 

The  volumes  are  large  and  each  chapter  is  practically  a  monograph*.  The 
work  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  on  the  Renaissance,  though,  naturally,  has 
met  with  criticism,  and  some  of  it  severe.  The  style,  on  the  whole,  makes 
it  attractive  reading.  The  seven  volumes  have  been  abridged  into  one  large 
volume  by  A.  Pearson,  "A  Short  History  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy." 
London,  1893. 

Crowe,  J.  A.  and  Cavalcaselle,  G.  B. — "  A  New  History  of  Painting  in  Italy,  from 

the  Second  to  the  Sixteenth  Centuries.    Drawn  up  from  Fresh  Materials 

and  Recent  Researches  in  the  Archives  of  Italy,  as  well  as  from  Personal 

Inspection  of  the  Works  of  Art  Scattered  throughout  Europe."     London, 

1864-1866.    3  vols. 

These  volumes  are  the  work  of  authors  whose  labors  in  the  field  of  art  have 

given  them  the  right  to  speak  with  accepted  authority.     While   long  and 

technical,   they   furnish   a    mine   of    information,    and    an   unusually    good 

index  makes  the  contents  easily  accessible.    The  general  value  of  the  work 

is  much  increased  by  full  illustrative  notes  and  many  excellent  engravings. 

MODERN  ITALY  (THE  "  RISORGIMENTO") 

Cantu,  C. — "Delia  Indipendenza  Italiana"   (" Cronistoria").     Turin,  1872-1877. 
3  vols.,  s  parts. 
Cantu  has  many  excellent  characteristics  as  a  historian,  but  his  quotations 
should  always  be  accepted  with  caution. 
Cavour,  Count  C.  di. — "  Lett  ere  Edite  ed  Inedite,  Raccolte  ed  Illustrate  da  S. 
Chiala"  (1820-1861).     Turin,  1861. 
See  also  C.  de  Mazade,  "  Le  Comtc  de  Cavour,  etude  de  politique  nationale 
et  parlementaire."     Paris,   1877.     Perhaps  the   most   discriminating  of  the 
accounts  of  Italy's  great  statesman. 
D'Azeglio,  M. — "  Scritti  Politici  e  Letterarie,  preceduti  da  uno  studio  sull'  autore, 

di  M.  Tabarrini."    Florence,  1872. 
Garibaldi,  G. — "I  Mille."     Bologna,   1874.     " Memoir e  Autobiografiche."     Flor- 
ence, 1888.    (Tr.  by  Werner.)    London,  1889. 


422  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  Memoirs  are  disappointing,  and  the  book  has  not  great  value,  though 

unavoidably  interesting. 
King,  B. — "The  History  of  Italian  Unity."     (1814-1870.)     New  York,   1899.     2 
vols. 

One  of  the  latest  books  to  be  added  to  the  already  very  extended  number 

on  this  subject,  and  one  of  the  best. 
Marriott,  J.  A.  R. — "The  Makers  of  Modern  Italy."     (Mazzini,  Cavour,  Gari- 
baldi.)    London,  1901. 

An  admirable  little  work,  which  gives  in  78  pages  clear-cut  glimpses  of  the 

Risorgimento. 
Mazzini,  G. — "Life  and  Writings."    London,  1864-1870.    6  vols. 

Partly  autobiographical.    Of  value  for  the  period  in  general,  and  especially 

for  an  understanding  of  the  author  himself,  the  promoter  of  Giovome  Italia 

and  one  of  the  chief  figures  in  the  making  of  Italy. 
Orsi,  P.— "Modern  Italy."    (1748-1898.)     (Trans.)     London,  1899. 

The  years  1748-1815  are  covered  in  the  first  three  chapters,  and  this  intro- 
duction is  useful  for  the  casual  reader  interested  in  the  Risorgimento.    At 

the  same  time  both  the  method  and  the  style  lack  clearness,  and  the  book 

as  a  whole  is  somewhat  superficial. 
Reuchlin,  H. — "  Geschichte  Italiens  von   Griindung  der  regierenden  Dynastien 
bis  auf  die  Gegenwart."    Leipsic,  1859- 1873.    4  vols. 

Painstaking  and  well-informed.     Volumes  I.  and  II.  deal  chiefly  with  the 

period  1789-1848,  volumes  III.  and  IV.  covering  the  years  from  1848-1870. 

It  is  one  of  the  very  best  works  on  the  Risorgimento  as  a  whole. 
Stillman,  W.  J.— "The  Union  of  Italy."    (1815-1895.)    London,  1898.    (With  a 

Bibliography.) 

The  best  popular  book  on  the  Risorgimento.   The  author  lived  for  years  in 

Italy  and  knew  many  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  events  of  the  time.     It 

is,  however,  unduly  pessimistic  in  tone  as  to  the  future  of  Italy. 
Thayer,  W.  R. — "The  Dawn  of  Italian  Independence."     (1814-1849.)     Boston, 
1893.    2  vols. 

Excellent  for  its  limited  period. 
Tivaroni,  C. — "  L' Italia  durante  il  domino  austriaco."     (1815-1849.)     Turin,  Rome, 
1892.     3  vols. 

A  good  book  for  the  general  reader  and  may  well  be  compared  with  Thayer's 

book.     It  has  valuable  references. 
Arrivabene,  C. — "  Italy  under  Victor  Emmanuel,"   1859- 1862.     London,   1862.     2 
vols. 

The  author  was  present  in  the  campaigns  as  a  correspondent  of  the  Daily 

News  (London).   A  most  interesting  book  on  the  period  of  the  most  intense 

struggle  of  the  Risorgimento. 
Zeller,  J. — "Pie  IX.  et  Victor  Emmanuel."    (1846-1878.)     Paris,  1879. 

A  good  sketch  of  these  two  men  and  of  the  events  in   which  they  were 

concerned. 

Other  works  are  referred  to  in  the  text  or  in  footnotes. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


A 


Actium:  battle  of,  26 

Adelaide,  Princess  of  Susa  and  Turin : 
marries  Otho  of  Savoy,  272 

Adelaide,  Queen  of  Victor  Emmanuel 
II:  death  of,  370 

Adelchus,  son  of  Disiderius :  at  the 
battle  of  Sacra  di  San  Michele,  174 

Adelwald:    reign  of,  168 

Adige:    battle  of  the,  329 

Adolph:  see  Ataulphus 

Adorno,  Antoniotto,  Doge  of  Genoa: 
places  Genoa  under  the  protection 
of  France,  244 

Adowa:   battle  of,  404 

Adrian  IV,  Pope:  quarrel  with  Fred- 
erick  Barbarossa,    192 

Adrianople:  battles  of  (323  a.  d.),  119; 
(378  A.D.),  133 

JElia  Capitolina :  founded  on  the  site 
of  Jerusalem,  92 

^Emilianus :    reign  of,  109 

Aetius:  supports  the  government  of 
Placida,   147;   death,   148 

Africa,  Province  of:  ceded  to  Genseric, 
147 

Agilulph:  reign  of,  166 

Agnadello:    battle  of,  292 

Agricola:    his  campaigns  in  Britain,  83 

Agrippa  (I)  Herod,  King  of  Judea: 
reign  of,  59 

Agrippa,  Marcus  Vipsanius:  puts  down 
the  insurrection  of  Fulvia,  19;  de- 
feats Sextus  Pompeius,  21 ;  loyal 
to  Augustus,  38;  marries  daughter 
of  Augustus,  40;  death,  42 

Agrippa  Postumus :  disgraced  and  se- 
cluded, 44;  death,  47 

Agrippina,  wife  of  Claudius  Germani- 
cus:  granddaughter  of  Augustus, 
40;  conspiracies  against,  50;  ban- 
ished, 51 ;  death,  53 

Agrippina,   Julia,   wife   of   Claudius    I : 


marries  Claudius,  60;   intrigues  of, 
60 ;    murders    Claudius,    61 ;    plots 
against  Nero,  62;  death  of,  64 
Ahenobarbus,    Cnaeus    Domitius:    mar- 
riage of,  50 
Ahenobarbus,    Lucius    Domitius     (con- 
sul 32  b.  c.)  :  nominee  of  Antonius, 
24 
Aix-la-Chapelle,   Peace  of    (1748)  :   336 
Alaric  I,  King  of  the  West  Goths:    in- 
trusted with  the   protection  of  the 
person    of    Gratian,     134;    invades 
Greece,  137;  invades  Italy,  138;  be- 
sieges Rome,  140 
Alberoni,  Julius :    sketch  of,  337 
Albinus,   Clodius :     proclaimed   emperor 

by  his  troops,  100;  death,  101 
Albizi,  Rinaldo  degl' :  leader  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Florence,  268 
Alboin :  conquers  northern  Italy,  163 
Alessandria:     building   and    growth   of, 
195;    revolution    of   the    Carbonari. 

355 

Alessandro  de'  Medici,  Duke  of  Tus- 
cany:   made   duke,  306 

Alexander  IV,  Pope :  attempts  to  se- 
cure freedom  of  Boniface,  Count 
of  Savoy,  274 

Alexander  VI  (Borgia),  Pope:  con- 
flict with  Savonarola,  282;  worldly 
tendency  of,   285 

Alexis  of  Palermo:  attempts  to  free 
Sicily  from  Spanish  rule,  323 

Alfieri,  Vittorio:  sketch  of,  338 

Alfonso  III,  King  of  Aragon :  gives 
up  claims  to  Sicily,  258;  his  Nea- 
politan war,   263 

Allemanni :    invade  Italy,  107 

Alviano,  Bartholomew :  defends  Ven- 
ice, 292 

Amadeus  I,  Count  of  Savoy :  reign  of, 
272 

Amadeus  II,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign 
of,  272 


425 


426 


INDEX 


Amatleus  III,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign 
of,  273 

Amadeus  IV,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign 
of,  273 

Amadeus  (V)  the  Great,  Count  of 
Savoy :    reign  of,  274 

Amadeus  VI,  surnamed  Count  Verde, 
Count  of  Savoy:    reign  of,  275 

Amadeus  VIII,  surnamed  Count  Rosso, 
Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  277; 
becomes  Felix  V,  277 

Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan:  his  influ- 
ence over  Gratian,  132;  his  serv- 
ices   to   Valentinian,    134 

Amalasontha,  mother  of  Athalaric: 
career  of,   159 

Andrew,  King  of  Naples:   life  of,  260 

Angelico,  Fra :  his  effect  on  the  Renais- 
sance, 283 

Angelo,  Michael:    see  Buonarotti 

Aniello  of  Amalfi,  Thomas:  see  Masa- 
niello 

Annunzio,  Gabriele  d* :    sketch  of,  410 

Anselm,  St.,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury :  addresses  letter  to  Humbert  II 
of  Savoy,  273 

Antheimus :     reign   of,    150 

Antonines,    Age   of   the :    94 

Antoninus,  Wall  of:  built,  95 

Antoninus  Pius  (Titus  Aurelius  An- 
toninus) :  adopted  by  Hadrian,  93; 
reign  of,  94;  death,  96 

Antonius,  Marcus :  offers  the  crown  to 
Caesar,  3;  takes  action  against  the 
murderers  of  Caesar,  6;  oration  of, 
at  Caesar's  funeral,  7;  tyranny  of, 
8 ;  attacks  Cicero  in  the  Senate,  1 1 ; 
takes  up  arms,  12;  in  the  field,  13; 
joins  second  triumvirate,  14;  at  bat- 
tle of  Philippi,  18;  returns  to  Italy, 
19;  relations  with  Cleopatra,  19; 
marries  Octavia,  20;  defeats  Sex- 
tus  Pompeius,  21 ;  campaign  of,  in 
the  East  (36  B.C.),  22;  life  of,  in 
Egypt,  23 ;  war  of,  with  Octavius, 
25 ;  death  of,  27 

Apollonius  of  Tyana:  expelled  from 
Rome,  84 

Aquileia:  siege  of  (238  a.  d.),  108;  bat- 
tle of  (340  a.  d.),  123 

Arbia,  River:    battle  of  the,  215 

Arbogastes :  his  influence  in  the  West- 
ern Empire,  135 ;  death,  135 


Arcadius:     associated    with    Theodosius 

in  the  Empire  of  the  East,  137 
Arcos,  Count,  Viceroy  of  Naples:  taxes 

fruit  in  Naples,  323 
Ardoin,  King  of  Italy:    reign  of,  183 
Ariminum,  Council  of:  meets,  126 
Ariosto,  Ludovico:    sketch  of,  319 
Aristides:  attempts  to  convert  Hadrian 

to  Christianity,  92 
Arius:     Constantius   .accepts    doctrines 

of,   125 
Arivald,    King   of   Italy:   reign   of,    168 
Arminius:    defeats    Varus,    44;    power 

weakened,  47 
Arnold    of    Brescia:     preaches    against 
the    temporal    power    of    the    hier- 
archy, 221 
Artour,  General :    sent  to  the  assistance 

of  Piedmont,  322 
Aruntius :    death  of,  53 
Asiaticus :  becomes  a  power  in  Rome,  72 
Assietta,  Col  of:    battle  of,  333 
Assyria,  Province  of:  formed,  89 
Astolphus,  King  of  Italy:    reign  of,  172 
Ataulphus:    founds  the  kingdom  of  the 

Visigoths  in  Spain,  145 
Athalaric:    reign  of,  159 
Attalus :    made  emperor  by  Alaric,   141 
Attila:    sketch  of,  147 
Augustine,    St. :     issues    his    "  City    of 

God,"  143 
Augustus  (Caius  Octavius  or  Caius 
Julius  Octavianus)  :  youth  of,  3 ; 
in  the  second  triumvirate,  10;  mar- 
riage of,  14;  at  battle  of  Philippi, 
18;  returns  to  Italy,  19;  rules  at 
Rome,  20 ;  besieges  Messana,  21 ; 
returns  to  Rome  after  his  Sicilian 
campaign,  22;  declares  war  on 
Egypt,  24;  founds  the  empire,  29; 
given  title  of  Augustus,  31 ;  his 
campaign  in  Gaul,  42;  adopts 
Tiberius  as  his  heir,  43;  death,  45; 
summary  of  his  reign,  46 
Aurelian,     Claudius     Lucius    Domitius : 

reign   of,    no 
Aurelius,  Marcus:  see  Marcus  Aurelius 
Austerlitz:    battle   of,   347 
Autharis,  King  of  Italy :  reign,  165 
Aversa :     founded,    185 
Avitus,  Marcus  Maecilius :    reign  of,  149 
Azzo    VII,    Marquis    of    Este:     elected 
sovereign  of  Ferrara,  200 


INDEX 


427 


B 


Balbinus,  Decimus   Caelius,  Emperor  of 

Rome :    death,    108 
Baratieri:    his  campaigns  in  Abyssinia, 

404 
Barbiano,  Alberic  di :    reforms  military 

organizations    of    Italy,    253 
Bar-Cochebas    (Simon)  :     heads    rebel- 
lion of  Jews,  92 
Bassianus:    see  Elagabalus 
Beccaria,     Cesare     Bonesano,     Marquis 

of:    sketch  of,  339 
Bedmar,  Marquis  of:    conspires  against 

Venice,  315 
Bedriacum:     first   battle   of    (69   a.  d.), 

71;   second  battle  of   (69  a.  d.),  T* 
Belisarius:    his  conquest  of  Italy,   159; 

his   campaigns   against  Totila,    161 
Belleisle,    Charles   Louis    Auguste    Fou- 

quet,  Duke  of:   at  battle  of  the  Col 

of  Assietta,  334 
Bembo,  Cardinal  Pietro:  labors  for  the 

restoration  of  letters,  299 
Berenger    I,    King   of    Italy:    reign   of, 

180 
Berenger  II,  King  of  Italy:    reign  of, 

181 
Bernard,  King  of  Italy:    reign  of,  177 
Bernini,    Giovanni   Lorenzo:     work    of, 

411 
Bertola:    at  siege  of  Turin  (1704),  328 
Bianchi:    rise   of,  212 
Bicocca:  battles  of  (1522),  301;  (1849), 

359  m 
Bixio :    joins  Garibaldi  in  Sicilian  cam- 
paign, 378 
Boadicea:    leads   revolts   in   Britain,  76 
Boccaccio,  Giovanni :    sketch  of,  281 
Boccanegra,     Simon :      made     the    first 

Doge  of  Genoa,  243 
Boethius :    death,    158 
Bologna:    internal  strife,  211 
Bonaparte,   Eliza:    given  Tuscany,  348 
Bonaparte,   Joseph:    appointed   King  of 

Naples,  348;  given  Spain,  348 
Bonaparte,    Louis :     given    kingdom    of 

Austria,  348 
Bonaparte,     Napoleon :     see     Napoleon 

(I)    Bonaparte 
Boniface,    Count    of    Savoy:     reign    of, 

273 
Bonifacius      (Boniface),     Count:     sup- 


ports the  government  of  Placida, 
M7 

Bonne  of  Savoy:    regency  of,  265 

Bonnivet,  Guillaume  Gouffier  de:  his 
campaign  in  Italy,  302 

Borgia,  Caesar,  Duke  of  Valentino : 
power  of,  291 

Bosco,    General :    Garibaldi    defeats,   378 

Botta,    General :     captures    Genoa,    334 

Bourbon,  Charles,  Duke  of:  conspires 
against  Francis  I  of  France,  302: 
marches   against  Rome,  303 

Braccio  di  Montone :  leader  of  the  cop- 
dotteri,   253 

Bragadino :  defends  Famagosta  against 
Turks,  309 

Brancaleone,  Dandolo :  destroys  forti- 
fications of  the  nobles,  211;  re- 
forms of,  222 

Brescia :    siege  of,   204 

Briannicus,  son  of  Claudius:  Agrippa 
plots  against,  60;  put  aside  by 
Nero,  62;   death,  63 

Britain:  invaded  and  subjugated  by 
Romans,  59;  further  subjugation 
of,  75;  campaign  of  the  Emperor 
Hadrian,  92 

Brutus,  Decimus  Junius,  surnamed  Al- 
binus:  plots  against  Caesar,  4;  re- 
pairs to  his  government  in  Cisal- 
pine, 11;  besieged  by  Antonius,  13; 
death,    14 

Brutus,  Marcus  Junius :  joins  plot 
against  Caesar,  4;  calls  patriots  to 
arms  in  Greece  and  Macedonia,  1 1 ; 
his  reception  in  Greece,  17;  at  bat- 
tle of  Philippi,  18 

Buonarotti,  Michael  Angelo:  his  effect 
on  the  Renaissance,  284;  reaches 
the  height  of  his  fame,  296 

Burrhus,  Afranius:  maintains  claims 
of  Nero  to  the  throne,  62;  death, 
64 

Byzantium :     siege   of,    120 


Cadorna,     Raffaele :     commands     forces 

against   Rome,   394 
Caecina       Alienus,       Aulas:        supports 

claims   of  Vitellius,   71 
Caesar,   Gaius  Julius:    death,  3 


428 


INDEX 


Caesario,   son   of   Cleopatra :     recognized 
by    Antonius    as    son    and    heir    of 
Julius  Caesar,  24 
Cajetan,    Tommaso    di    Vio:     summons 
Luther    to    the    Council    of    Augs- 
burg, 300 
Caligula,   Caius   Julius   Caesar:    charac- 
ter of,  53 ;  reign  of,  55 ;  death,  58 
Calpurnia,      wife      of      Caesar:       gives 
Caesar's  will  and   treasures  to  An- 
tonius, 6 
Cambrai,  Treaty  of:    concluded,  292 
Camorra,  The :    description  of,  403 
Campeggi,  Lorenzo:    illustrious  scholar, 

209 
Campoformio,    Treaty    of    (1797),    344 
Camulodunum :    see  Colchester 
Candia,    Island    of:    captured    by    the 

Turks,  325 
Canidius:    joins  Octavius,  26 
Canova,  Antonio:    sketch  of,   411 
Caracalla,  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus : 

reign  of,  102 
Caractacus:    carried   captive  to   Rome, 

59 

Carbonari,  The :    insurrection  of,  352 

Carlo  Felice,  King  of  Sardinia:  acces- 
sion of,  355 

Carlomann,  King  of  Italy:  reign  of, 
179  a-  •*•• 

Carlos,  Don,  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies: 
rules  Florence  and  Tuscany,  332 

Carobert,  King  of  Hungary:  claims 
throne  of   Naples,  260 

Carlo  Borromeo,  St.,  Archbishop  of 
Milan:    his   reforms   in   Milan,  312 

Carmagnola,  Francesco  Bussome:  leads 
the  forces  of  Venice,  250 

Carrara,  Francesco  da:  leader  of  con- 
federacy against  Venice,  239;  career 
of,  250 

Casale:    battle  of    (1640),  322 

Casca,  Publius  Servilius :  plots  against 
Caesar,  4;  stabs  Caesar,  5 

Cassius,  Longinus  Caius :  plots  against 
Caesar,  4;  sets  out  for  Syria,  11; 
his  reception  in  Syria,  17;  at  battle 
of  Philippi,   18 

Cateau-Cambresis,  peace  of  (1559) : 
307 

Castelfidardo :  battle  of,  382 

Cavour,  Camillo  Benso,  Count  di:  gov- 
ernment of,  371 ;  returns  to  power, 
375;  policy  of  toward  Rome,  384 


Cellini,    Benvenuto :    his    effect    on    the 

Renaissance,   284 
Cesari,  Antonio :    sketch  of,  409 
Chserea,  Cassius :    assassinates  Caligula, 

Chalons:  battle  of  (451  a.  d.),  148 

Charlemagne :  invades  Italy,  174 ;  made 
King  of  Italy,  175;  crowned  em- 
peror, 176;  death,  176 

Charles :    see   Carlo 

Charles  (II)  the  Bald,  King  of  France 
and  Emperor  of  the  Romans :  ac- 
cession of,   179 

Charles  (III)  the  Fat,  King  of  France 
and  Emperor  of  Rome:  reign  of, 
179 

Charles  VIII,  King  of  France:  claims 
throne  of  Naples,  270;  invades 
Italy,  289 

Charles  IV,  Emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire:  campaigns  in 
Italy,  219 

Charles  V,  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire:  concludes  treaty  with 
Francis  I  of  France,  295 ;  strug- 
gle with  Francis  I  of  France,  301; 
crowned,   305 

Charles  I  (of  Anjou),  King  of  Naples 
and  Sicily:  his  crusade  against 
Manfred,  215 ;  quarrel  with  the 
kings   of   Aragon,   217 

Charles  (III)  of  Durazzo,  King  of 
Naples :  seizes  the  throne  of 
Naples,  261 

Charles  the  Bold,  Duke  of  Burgundy: 
defeated  by  the  Swiss,  256 

Charles  III,  Duke  of  Savoy:  reign  of, 
305 

Charles  Albert,  King  of  Sardinia:  re- 
gent of  Sardinia,  355 ;  reign  of,  357 

Charles  Emmanuel  I,  King  of  Sardinia 
(III,    Duke    of    Savoy)  :    reign   of, 

33i 

Charles  Emmanuel  II,  King  of  Sar- 
dinia (IV,  Duke  of  Savoy)  :  reign 
of,  344 

Charles  Emmanuel  I,  Duke  of  Savoy: 
reign  of,  317 

Charles  Emmanuel  II,  Duke  of  Savoy: 
reign  of,  322 

Charles  Martel :    aids  Pope,  170 

Christianity:  established  by  Constan- 
tine,  121 


INDEX 


429 


Christians,  Persecutions  of:  under 
Nero,  65 ;  under  Domitian,  84 ; 
under  Trajan,  91;  under  Marcus 
Aurelius,   97 

Cialdini,  Enrico:  in  the  war  against 
the  Papacy,  381 ;  sent  against  Gari- 
baldi, 387 

Cicero,  Marcus  Tullius :  joins  the  mur- 
derers of  Caesar,  6;  attacks  An- 
tonius  in  the  Senate,  11;  attempts 
to  unite  all  parties  against  An- 
tonius,  12;  publishes  his  second 
Philippic,  13 ;  commands  in  Rome, 
13;    death,    15 

Cimber,  Lucius  Tullius:  plots  against 
Caesar,  4 

Civiles,  Claudius :  leads  insurrection  in 
Gaul,  76 

Claudius  I  (Tiberius  Claudius  Drusus 
Nero  Germanicus)  :  character,  53; 
reign  of,  58;  death,  61 

Claudius  II  (Marcus  Aurelius  Claud- 
ius) :    reign  of,   no 

Clemens,    Flavius:     death,   84 

Clement  V,  Pope:  gives  crown  of 
Naples  to  Robert,  260 

Clement  VI,  Pope:  acquits  Joanna, 
Queen  of  Naples,  of  the  murder 
of  Andrew,  260 

Clement  VII,  Pope:  joins  the  League 
of  Cognac,  303 

Clement  XIV,  Pope;  embellishes  Rome, 

341 
Cleopatra,    Queen    of    Egypt:     influence 
over   Caesar,   5;    relations  with   An- 
tonius,    19;   her  influence  over   An- 
tonius,  23;  at  the  battle  of  Actium, 
25 ;   death,  27 
Clepho,    King   of   Italy:     reign,    165 
Cognac,  League  of :    formed,  303 
Colonna,     Prospero :     captured    by    the 

French,  293 
Colchester     (Camulodunum)  :    founded, 

59 

Cologne  (C  o  1  o  n  i  a  Agrippinensis)  : 
founded,  61 

Colonna,  Marc  Antony:  leader  of  ex- 
pedition  against  Turks,  310 

Columbanus,  St. :  founds  a  monastery 
in   Italy,   168 

Commodus,  Lucius  Aurelius:    reign  of, 

99 
Condottieri:  rise  of,  251 


Conrad  (II)  the  Salique,  King  of  Ger- 
many and  Emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire:  reign  of  in  Italy, 
183 

Conrad  IV,  King  of  Germany:  reign 
of,  206 

Conradin,  son  of  Frederick:  capture 
and  death,  215 

Constance,  daughter  of  Manfred,  mar- 
ries Peter  III,  215 

Constance,    Peace   of:    195 

Constans  I  (Flavius  Julius)  :  reign  of, 
123 

Constantine  (I)  the  Great:  proclaimed 
emperor,  117;  campaign  against 
Maxentius,  118;  his  reign  in  the 
West,  119;  reign  of,  121 

Constantine    II:     reign,    123 

Constantine  Copronymus :  accession, 
170 

Constantinople:     rise    of,    122 

Constantius  (I)  Chlorus:  made  Caesar, 
114 

Constantius  II:    reign,   123 

Contarini,  Doge  of  Venice:  at  the 
siege  of  Venice,  240 

Corte  Nuova:  battle  of  (1237),  204 

Cosmo  de'  Medici,  Duke  of  Florence: 
created  Duke,  307 

Council  of  Ten  in  Venice,  248 

Crema:    siege   of,   193 

Cremona:  member  of  Lombard  League, 
194;    internal    strife,    211 

Crescentius :  leader  of  Roman  popu- 
lace,   183 

Crispi,  Francesco:  rises  to  power,  398; 
opposes    colonial    expansion,    404 

Crispus,  son  of  Constantine;  besieges 
Byzantium,    120 

Ctesiphon:    surrenders  to  the   Romans, 

89 
Custozza:    battle  of,  390 


D 


Dante  Alighieri:    exiled  from  Florence, 

213;   sketch  of,  280 
Decius,  Metius :    reign  of,  109 
Delia     Rocca,     General:      in     the     war 

against  the   Papacy,  381 
Denina,   Carlo:     sketch   of,   409 


430 


INDEX 


Depretis,    Agostino:     head     of    Italian 

Government,  397 
Desiderius,    King    of    Italy:     reign    of, 

173 

Diocletian  (Diodes)  :  raised  to  the 
throne,  112;  reign  of,   113 

Domitian :  accession  of,  82 ;  reign  of, 
83;   death  of,  85 

Donatello  (Donato  di  Niccolo  di  Betto 
Bardi)  :  his  effect  on  the  Renais- 
sance, 284 

Doria,  Andrea :    governs  Genoa,  305 

Doria,   Pietro :    besieges  Venice,  239 

Drusilla,  sister  of  the  Emperor  Calig- 
ula: death,  56 

Drusus  Caesar,  son  of  the  Emperor  Ti- 
berius :  sent  to  quiet  the  soldiers 
in  Pannonia,  47;  death,  50 

Drusus  Claudius  Nero:  campaigns  of 
in  Germany,  40;  sketch  of,  41; 
death  of,  42 

Duquesne,  General:  besieges  Genoa, 
325 


Ecumenical  Council    (1869-1870),  393 
Edward,    Count    of    Savoy:    reign    of, 

275 

Egypt :  made  a  Roman  province,  27 

Elagabus  (Bassianus)  :  proclaimed  em- 
peror, 104;  death,  105 

Elegia:   battle  of,  96 

Emmanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of  Savoy: 
at  battle  of  St.  Quentin,  307;  reign 
of,  307;  aids  Venice  against  Turks, 
309 

Enzio,  son  of  Frederick  II :  captures 
prelates  bound  for  general  council, 
205 

Erythrea:    founded,  404 

Eudoxia,  widow  of  Valentinian  III: 
summons  Genseric  to  revenge  the 
death   of  Valentinian,    149 

Eugene  of  Savoy,  Prince:  career  of, 
328 

Eugenius:  raised  to  the  throne,  135 

Eugenius  IV,  Pope:  loses  Rome,  224; 
deposed,   277 

Eusebia,  Empress :  shows  favor  to 
Julian,    127 

Exilaratus :    marches  against  Rome,  170 


F 


Fadilla,  daughter  of  Marcus   Aurelius: 

death,    102 
Faesulae:   battle   of,   138 
Falieri,      Marino,      Doge      of     Venice : 

treachery  of,  248 
Famagosta:    siege   of,   309 
Fanti,  General :   in  the  war  against  the 

Papacy,  381 
Farini:  joins  Garibaldi  in  Sicilian  cam- 
paign,   378 
Fassineto :  battle  of,  373 
Faustina,  wife  of  Antoninus :    kindness 

of   Antoninus   toward,   96 
Felix  II,   Pope :   made  Bishop  of  Rome 

by    Constantius,    125 
Felix    V,    Pope :    accession,    277 
Ferdinand     I,     Emperor    of    the     Holy 

Roman   Empire :   accession,  307 
Ferdinand     V,     King     of     Castile     (II, 

King    of    Aragon    and    Sicily;    III, 

King  of  Naples)  :  wins  Naples,  291 
Ferdinand  I,  King  of  Naples:  accession 

of,  265 ;   at  war  with  Florence,  269 
Ferdinand  I,  King  of  the  Two   Sicilies 

(IV,    King    of    Naples)  :    abdicates, 

352 
Ferdinand  I,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany: 

patronizes  Galileo,  320 
Ferdinand  Charles  III,  Duke  of  Parma: 

assassination  of,  369 
Ferrara :    elects  Azzo  VII   as   its   lord, 

200 
Ferruccio,  Francesco :  defends  Florence 

at  siege,  306 
Filangieri,  Gaetano:  sketch  of,  339 
Filippo  Maria  Visconti,  Duke  of  Milan: 

reign  of,  250 
Five  Good  Emperors :  reign  of,  86 
Florence :  Ghibellines  defeat  the  Guelphs 

(1260),     212;     history    of,     in    the 

Middle    Ages,    225,    257;    siege    of, 

306;  made  capital  of  Italy,  388 
Francesco  I,  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies : 

reign  of,  352 
Francesco  II,  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies : 

reign    of,    377;    flees    from    Naples, 

380;  defeated  by  Garibaldi,  382 
Francis    I,    King    of    France :    invades 

Italy,    293 ;    concludes    treaty    with 

Charles     of     Spain,     295;     struggle 

with   Charles   I  of   Spain,  301 


INDEX 


431 


Francis,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany:  ac- 
cession of,  332 

Franks :  conquests  of,  107 ;  invade 
Gaul,  162 

Frederick  (I)  Barbarossa,  King  of  the 
Germans  and  emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire :  accession  to  throne 
of  Germany,  190;  reign  of,  191 

Frederick  II,  Emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire :   reign  of,  201 

Frederick  II,  King  of  Sicily:  war  with 
James  of  Aragon,  258 

Fois,  Gaston  de :    death,  293 

Fomovo :  battle  of,  290 

P'ulvia,  wife  of  Antonius :  incites  in- 
surrection in  Italy,  19;  death,  19 


Gabrielli  of  Agobbia:  made  tyrant  of 
Florence,  229 

Galba,  Servius  Sulpicius:  conspires 
against  Nero,  67;  proclaimed  em- 
peror, 69;   death,  70 

Gaetulicus,  Lentulus :  plots  against  Calig- 
ula, 57 

Galerius  Maximianus :  made  Caesar, 
114;   death,   118 

Galileo  Galilei :  sketch  of,  320 

Galletti,  Joseph :  leader  in  insurrection 
in   Rome,  365 

Gallienus,  Publius  Licinius:  reign  of, 
no 

Gallipoli :   siege  of,  276 

Gallus  Hostilius:    reign  of,  109 

Galvani   of   Bologna,   Luigo :   sketch  of, 

339 

Garibaldi,  Giuseppe :  aids  republicans  of 
Italy,  367;  aids  Sicilian  insurgents, 
377;  enters  Naples,  380;  retires  to 
Caprera,  384;  plots  to  join  Rome 
to  kingdom  of  Italy,  386;  his  cam- 
paign in  the  Tyrol,  390;  incites  re- 
volts   in    Rome,    391 

Gaul :  suppression  of  the  mutiny  in,  76 ; 
outbreak  of  the  laboring  party,  115; 
overrun  by  barbarians,  139;  be- 
comes France,   162 

Genoa:  wars  with  Pisa,  236;  history 
of,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  238;  in  the 
the  fifteenth  century,  305 ;  captured 
by  the   French,   325 ;    surrenders   to 


the    Austrians,   334;    surrenders    to 

Napoleon,   344 
Genseric:  conquers  Africa,  147;  invades 

Italy  and  sacks  Rome,  149;  death, 

150 
Germanicus    Caesar:    commands    forces 

in    Germany,   45 ;    his   campaign    in 

Germany,  47;  his  campaigns  in  the 

East,  48 
Geta,  Septimus :  death,  102 
Ghibellines :  rise  of,  199 
Ghiberti,    Lorenzo :    his    effect    on    the 

Renaissance,   284 
Ghirlandaio,    II:    instructs    Michael   An- 

gelo,   297 
Giafieri:   member  of  conspiracy  against 

Venice,  315 
Gian    Galeazzo,    Duke    of    Milan,    reign 

of,  219 
Giano  della  Bella :  reforms  of,  228 
Giolitti,  Giovanni:  ministry  of,  405 
Giotto,  or  Giotto  di  Bondone:  work  of, 

412 
Giovanni     Maria     Visconti,     Duke     of 

Milan:  death,  250 
Glycerius :  reign  of,  150 
Goldoni,  Carlo :  leader  in  the  drama  of 

the   eighteenth   century,   339 
Gordian    III :    reign,    109 
Goths :    invade    Greece,    108 ;    sketch   of, 

136 ;  found  kingdom  in  Spain,  145 ; 

depart  from  Italy,   162 
Gratian :   reign,   132 
Gregorian   Calendar:   adopted,  313 
Gregory  (I)  the  Great,  Pope:  accession 

of,   167;   opposes   Leo  the   Isaurian, 

169;  musical  reforms  of,  414 
Gregory  III,  Pope:  accession  of,  170 
Gregory  IX,   Pope:  contention  of,  with 

Frederick  II,  202 
Gregory    X,    Pope :    enforces    measures 

of  reconciliation  in  all  Italian  cities, 

213 
Gregory   XI,    Pope:    indignation   of   the 

Florentines  against,  232 
Gregory   XIII,    Pope :    reforms  the   cal- 
endar, 313 
Guarantee,   Law   of,   399 
Guarnieri,  Duke :  leader  of  mercenaries, 

252 
Guelphs :   rise   of,    199 
Gunpowder:    introduction   into    Europe, 

255 


432 


INDEX 


H 


Hadrian  (Publius  yElius  Hadrianus)  : 
reign   of,  91 ;    death,  93 

Hadrian's  Wall,  built,  92 

Haemon,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of, 
275 

Hawkwood,  Sir  John:  in  the  Italian 
wars,  253 

Helius :  recalls  Nero  to  Rome,  66 

Henry  II,  King  of  France:  at  war  with 
Spain,  307 

Henry  IV,  King  of  France:  war  with 
Charles  Emmanuel,  317 

Henry  II,  King  of  Germany  and  Em- 
peror of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire : 
invades    Italy,    183 

Henry  IV,  King  of  Germany  and  Em- 
peror of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire: 
grants  charter  to  Pisa,  187 

Henry  (VI)  Asper,  King  of  Germany 
and  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire :  marries  Constance,  196 ; 
his  reign  in  Sicily,   196 

Henry  (VII)  of  Luxemburg,  King  of 
Germany  and  Emperor  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire:  his  influence  in 
Italy,  219 

Heraclian,  prefect  of  Africa:  stops 
Ostia's  supply  of  corn,  141 

Heraricus :  reign  of,   160 

Herculaneum :    destroyed,   83 

Hermanaric:  unites  the  Goths  into  one 
nation,  136 

Herod  the  Great,  King  of  Judea:  re- 
ceives an  extension  of  his  territory, 
39 

Herod  Agrippa:  see  Agrippa,  Herod 

Hildebald,  King  of  Italy:  reign  of,  160 

Hirtius,  Aulus:  consul-elect,  12;  death, 
13 

Holy  League:  formed   (1511),  293 

Holy  Roman  Empire:  first  use  of  name, 
181 

Honorius,  Flavius:  associated  with 
Theodosius  in  the  Empire  of  the 
West,  137;  summary  of  his  reign, 
146 

Honorius  III,  Pope:  his  contention 
with  Frederick  II,  201 

Horace  (Quintus  Horatius  Flaccus) : 
in  Athens,  17 

Humbert    I,   King  of   Italy    (IV,   King 


of  Sardinia)  :  reign  of,  397 ;  assas- 
sinated, 405 

Humbert  (I)  surnamed  Biancamano, 
Count  of  Savoy:  founds  house  of 
Savoy,  272 

Humbert  II,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of, 
272 

Humbert  (III),  St.,  Count  cf  Savoy: 
reign  of,  273 

Huns:  advent  of,  136;  advance  of,   147 


I,  J,  K 

Ignatius,  Saint:  martyrdom  of,  91 

Innocent  I,  Pope;  refuses  to  sanction 
ancient    rites,    140 

Innocent  II,  Pope:  confers  upon  Roger 
Guiscard  title  of  King  of  Sicily, 
186 

Innocent  III,  Pope;  pontificate  of,  197; 
forms  the  Tuscan  union,  204 

Innocent  IV,  Pope :  his  contention  with 
Frederick    II,    205 

Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  The:  story 
of,  167 

Italy,  History  of:  the  death  of  Csesar, 
3 ;  Octavius  and  the  Second  Trium- 
virate, 10;  the  battle  of  Philippi 
and  the  new  division  of  the  empire, 
17;  the  battle  of  Actium  and  end 
of  the  period  of  civil  war,  22;  the 
foundation  of  the  empire  by  Au- 
gustus, 29;  condition  of  the  empire 
under  Augustus,  36;  the  reign  of 
Tiberius  Csesar,  46;  the  reigns  of 
Caius  Caligula  and  Claudius,  55 ; 
the  reign  of  Nero,  62;  contest  for 
the  empire,  69;  affairs  in  the 
Roman  provinces,  75;  the  Flavian 
emperors — Vespasian,  Titus,  and 
Domitian,  81 ;  prosperity  of  the  em- 
pire under  Nerva,  Trajan,  and 
Hadrian,  86;  the  age  of  the  An- 
tonines,  94;  transition  period  of 
decline,  99;  advance  of  the  bar- 
barians, 107;  the  reforms  of  Diocle- 
tian and  the  rise  of  Constantine, 
113;  Constantine  the  Great  and  the 
supremacy  of  Constantinople,  121 ; 
progress  of  Christianity,  127;  Gra- 
tian  and  Theodosius,  133;  the  sack 


INDEX 


433 


of  Rome  by  the  Goths,  140;  farther 
advance  of  the  barbarians,  145; 
Odoacer,  first  king  of  Italy  and 
the  invasion  of  Theodoric,  155;  fall 
of  the  Goths,  159;  the  Lombards — 
Gregory  the  Great,  163;  rise  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Popes,  171 ; 
the  foundation  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  180;  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
191 ;  the  Lombard  cities,  199 ;  the 
rise  of  despots,  214;  Florence 
and  Pisa,  225 ;  Genoa  and  Venice, 
238;  the  condottieri,  251;  Naples 
and  Florence,  257;  the  house  of 
Savoy,  272;  the  Italian  Renais- 
sance, 279;  Ludovico  il  Moro  and 
the  French  in  Italy,  289;  the  golden 
age  of  Leo  X,  296;  the  struggle  be- 
tween Charles  V  and  Francis  I — 
the  Peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  301 ; 
the  last  of  Italian  liberty,  309; 
Charles  Emmanuel  the  Great  and 
some  men  of  the  age,  317;  Victor 
Amadeus  and  the  founding  of  the 
Italian  kingdom,  326;  celebrated 
men  of  the  middle  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, 337 ;  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  341 ; 
revolution  in  Italian  states — war 
with  Austria,  352;  Pope  Pius  IX 
and  the  Roman  Republic,  361; 
growth  of  Italian  unity,  371 ;  the 
question  of  Rome,  386;  Rome  be- 
comes the  capital  of  Italy,  391 ;  in- 
ternal condition  of  the  kingdom, 
397;  literature  and  art  of  modern 
Italy,  407 
James,    King    of    Aragon:     war    with 

Sicily,  258 
Jerusalem:  siege  of  (70  a.  d.),  79 
Jesuits :  expelled  from  the  Two  Sicilies, 

383 
Joanna   I,   Queen  of   Naples:   reign  of, 

260 
Joanna  II,  Queen  of  Naples:  reign  of, 

262 
John  I,  Pope :  his  mission  to  the  East, 

157 
John    XII,    Pope:    crowns    Otho    I    of 

Germany,    181 
John   XXII,   Pope:   abets   ambitions  of 

Robert  of  Anjou,  218 
John  the  Fearless,  Duke  of  Burgundy: 
uses  cannon  in  his  army,  256 


John,  Duke  of  Calabria:  claims  throne 
of  Naples,  265 

John  of  Austria,  Don:  commands 
Spanish   forces   against  Turks,   310 

John  of  Procida :  leader  of  revolution- 
ary party  in  Sicily,  257 

John  Palaeologus,  Emperor  of  the  East: 
appeals  to  the  Pope,  276 

Josephus,  Flavius :  commands  Jewish 
forces,  78;  spurned  by  the  Jews, 
80 

Jovian:  reign,  127 

Judaea:   Roman  conquest  of,  J7 

Julia,  daughter  of  Augustus :  marriages 
of,  40;  banished,  42 

Julia  Domna,  wife  of  Severus :  death, 
104 

Julian  The  Apostate  (Flavius  Claudius 
Julianus)  :    reign,    127 

Julianus,  Marcus  Didius  Severus :  pur- 
chases throne,  100;  death  of,  100 

Julius  II,  Pope :  imprisons  Caesar 
Borgia,  291 ;  calls  Michael  Angelo 
to  Rome,  297 

Justin:  receives  Pope  John  I.,  157 


L 


Ladislaus,  King  of  Naples:  reign  of, 
261 

Lamoriciere,  Christophe  Leon  Louis 
Juchault  de:  takes  command  of 
Papal  forces,  381 

Lampadius :  made  captain  of  the  prae- 
torians,  141 

Lando,  Conrad:  leader  of  band  of  rob- 
bers, 252 

Lando,  Michel  di:  made  signor  of 
Florence,  234 

Legnano:  battle  of,  195 

Leipsic:  battle  of,  349 

Leo  (I)  The  Great,  Pope:  his  interview 
with  Attila,   148 

Leo  III,  Pope:  crowns  Charlemagne, 
176 

Leo  IV,  Pope :  builds  defense  for  Rome 
against   barbarians,    179 

Leo  IX,  Pope :  marches  against  Robert 
Guiscard,    186 

Leo  X,  Pope :  golden  age  of,  206 ;  death, 
300 

Leo  XIII,  Pope:  pontificate  of,  399 


434. 


INDEX 


Leo  (III)  the  Isaurian,  Byzantine 
Emperor:  introduces  dissensions 
into  the  church,  169 

Leo,  King  of  Italy:  succeeds  Lothaire, 
179 

Leonardo  da  Vinci:  sketch  of  his 
career,  298 

Leonine   City:   founded,    179 

Leopold  I,  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire :  claims  Spanish  throne,  327 

Leopold  I,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany: 
reign  of,  332 

Leopold  II,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany: 
restored  to  his  dominions,  368 

Lepanto:  battle  of  (1571),  310 

Lepidus,  Marcus  ^Emilius,  the  Trium- 
vir: supports  Antonius  against  the 
murderers  of  Caesar,  7;  marches 
from  Spain  to  join  Antonius,  12; 
joins  second  triumvirate,  14;  made 
consul,  15 ;  quarrels  with  Octavius, 
21 ;   death  of,  31 

Liberius,    Pope:    exiled   by   Constantius, 

125 

Licinius  (Caius  Flavins  Valerius  Li- 
cinianus)  :  made  Cesar,  118;  his 
reign  in  the   East,    119;    death,   120 

Livia,  wife  of  Octavius :  marriage,  20 

Livia  Drusilla,  wife  of  Augustus: 
sketch  of,  40;  death,  51 

Locusta:  furnishes  poison  for  the  death 
of  Claudius,  61 ;  furnishes  poison 
for  the  death  of  Britannicus,  63 

Lombard  League :   formed,   194 

Lombards :  rise  of,  163 

London   (Londinium)  :  center  of  trade, 

75 
Longinus,    Dionysius    Cassius:    advises 

Zenobia,  111 
Loria,   Roger   di :    in   the   war  between 

Aragon  and  France,  258 
Lothaire  I,  King  of  Italy:  reign  of,  178 
Louis     (I)     the     Pious,     King    of    the 

Franks   and   Emperor   of   the   Holy 

Roman    Empire :    deposes    Bernard 

of  Italy,  178 
Louis  (IV)  of  Bavaria,  Emperor  of  the 

Holy    Roman    Empire :     campaigns 

in  Italy,  219 
Louis    XII,    King   of    France:    invades 

Italy,  291 
Louis   XIV,   King  of  France:   sends  a 

force  against  Genoa,  325 


Louis  (I)  the  Great,  King  of  Hungary: 

invades  Naples,  252,  260 
Louis   (II)   of  Anjou,  King  of  Naples: 

claims     throne     of     Naples,     261 ; 

reign  of,  261 
Louis,  Duke  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  278 
Lugdunum :  battle  of,  101 
Lupercalia,  Festival  of,  3 
Lupicinus :    defeated   by  the   Goths,    137 
Luther,  Martin :  revolt  of.  299 
Liitprand:   reign  of,   168 


M 


Macrinus,  Marcus  Opilus:  kills  Cara- 
calla,  102;  recognized  as  emperor, 
102 

Macro,  Naevius  Sertorius :  overthrows 
Sejanus,  52;  accused  of  killing  the 
Emperor  Tiberius,  54;  death,  56 

Madrid,  Peace  of  (1526),  303 

Maecenas,  Caius  Cilnius :  aids  in  mak- 
ing a  new  division  of  territory 
among  the  triumvirs,  20;  sketch  of, 
38;  death,  43 

Maenas,  an  officer  of  Sextus  Pompeius : 
proposes  to  kidnap  Octavius  and 
Antonius,  20;  his  treachery  to  Sex- 
tus, 21 

Mafia,  The:   description   of,  403 

Magenta:  battle  of  (1859),  373 

Magnentius,  Flavins  Popilius :  becomes 
emperor,    123 ;    death,    124 

Manfred:   reign  of,  206;  death,  215 

Mantua :   siege  of,  344 

Manzoni,  Alexander :   sketch  of,  410 

Marcellus,   Marcus:   sketch  of,  40 

Marcia,  mistress  of  Commodus :  assassi- 
nates   Commodus,  99 

Marcianus :  made  prefect  of  the  city, 
141 

Marcus  Aurelius :  adopted  by  Antoninus 
Pius,  94;  reign,  96;  death,  97 

Mardia:  battle  of,  119 

Marengo:    battle    of    (1800),    345 

Maria,  Queen  of  Sicily:  marries  Mar- 
tin of  Aragon,  263 

Maria  Christina,  mother  of  Charles 
Emmanuel   II :   regency  of,  322 

Maria  Theresa,  mother  of  Victor  Em- 
manuel  II :   death   of,   370 


INDEX 


435 


Marignano:  battles  of  (1515),  294; 
(1859),  373 

Marjorianus,  Julius  Valerius:  reign  of, 
149 

Marozia:  her  influence  over  the  Papacy, 
182 

Marsaglia:  battle  of   (1693),  326 

Martini,  Count  Ponza  di :  ambassador 
to  the  Pope  from  Victor  Em- 
manuel, 394 

Masaniello :  leader  of  insurrection  in 
Naples,  324 

Matilda,  Countess :  wills  her  property 
to  the   Papacy,   197 

Maxentius,  Marcus  Aurelius  Valerius : 
given  title  of  Augustus  by  the  Sen- 
ate,  117;   death,   118 

Maximianus  Hercules :  made  colleague 
of  the  Emperor   Diocletian,    113 

Maximinus,  Caius  Julius  Verus :  be- 
comes emperor,  106;  death,  108 

Maximus,  Emperor  of  the  West:  reign, 
149 

Maximus,  friend  of  Ovid :  death,  44 

Maximus,  Magnus  Clemens:  usurps 
throne    of    the     Western    Empire, 

134 

Mazzini :  joins  revolutionists  of  Rome, 
366 

Medici,  The:  rise  of,  267;  becomes  ex- 
tinct, 331 

Medici,  Alessandro  de' :  see  Alessandro 
de'  Medici 

Medici,  Cosmo  de'  (1389- 1464)  :  char- 
acter of,  267;  encourages  learning, 
282 

Medici,  Cosmo  de'  (1519-1574)  :  see 
Cosmo  de'   Medici 

Aledici,  Giovanni  de'  (d.  1429)  :  char- 
acter of,  267 

Medici,  Giovanni  de'  (1498-1526)  :  his 
campaign  against  the  Duke  of 
Bourbon,  303 

Medici,  Giovanni  de';  see  Leo  X,  Pope 

Medici,  Julian  de' :  assumes  government 
of  Florence,  268 

Medici,  Lorenzo  de' :  reign  of,  268 ;  en- 
courages learning,  282 

Medici,  Piero  de'  (1416-1469)  :  char- 
acter of,  268 

Medici,  Piero  de'  (1471-1503)  :  defeated 
by  Charles  VIII  of  France,  290 

Meloria:   battle   of,   236 


Menelek,    King    of    Stroa:    wages    war 

with    Italy,    404 
Messala,   Marcus   Valerius :   consul,  25 ; 
offers  the  title  of  Augustus  to  Oc- 
tavius,  35 
Messalina,   wife  of   Claudius   I:   death, 

60 
Messana:  siege  of  (37  B.  C.)>  21 
Metastasio    (Pietro    Bonaventura    Tra- 

passi)  :   sketch  of,  338 
Micca,   Peter :  heroism  of,  at  the  siege 

of  Turin,  329 
Milan:  as  a  republic,  189;  surrenders  to 
Frederick    Barbarossa,    192;    second 
siege  and  destruction,   193;  statisti- 
cal    statement     of,     207;     internal 
strife     (1220),    211 ;     (1257),    217; 
conquered  by  the  French,  291 ;  the 
plague   of   1576,   311;    made   capital 
of  the   Cisalpine  republic,  343 
Milan,  Edict  of:   issued,   116 
Milvian  Bridge:  battle  of,   118 
Mincio:   battle  of  the,  329 
Modena:   internal   strife,  211 
Mohammed  II:  threatens  Italy,  264 
Montebello:   battle   of,   373 
Monte  Rotondo:  battle  of,  392 
Monti,  Vincenzo:  sketch  of,  409 
Moriale,   Fra:    leader  of  band  of  rob- 
bers, 252 
Morosini,     Francesco:      his     campaign 

against  the  Turks,  325 
Mortara:  battle  of,  174 
Mucianus :  proconsul  of  Syria,  72 
Murat,     Joachim :     appointed     King    of 

Naples,  348 
Muratori,  Ludovico  Antonio :  sketch  of, 

338 
Mursa:  battle  of,  124 
Mutina:  siege  of  (44  b.  c),  13 


N 


Naissus:  battle  of  (269  a.  d.),  ho 
Naples :  invaded  by  Louis,  King  of 
Hungary,  254;  history  of,  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  257;  passes  to  Spain, 
291 ;  under  Spanish  rule,  323 ;  sur- 
renders to  Napoleon,  345;  revolu- 
tion of  1820,  352;  Austrians  enter 
(1821),  354;  surrenders  to  Gari- 
baldi, 380 


436 


INDEX 


Napoleon  (I)  Bonaparte:  invasion  of 
Italy,  342 

Napoleon  III,  Emperor  of  France: 
joins  Piedmont  against  Austria, 
372 

Narses :  defeats  Totila,  161 ;  governor 
general  of  Italy,  162 

Naulochus :   battle  of,  21 

Nepos,  Julius :  reign,  150 

Neri :  rise  of,  212 

Nero  Claudius  Caesar  Drusus  Germani- 
cus:  adopted  by  Claudius,  60;  reign 
of,  62;  death,  68 

Nerva,  Cocceius :  influences  a  new  divi- 
sion of  territory  among  the  trium- 
virs, 20 

Nerva,  Cocceius,  death  of,  53 

Nerva,   Marcus   Cocceius:   reign  of,  86 

Nicaea,   Council  of,   121 

Nice:   siege  of,  305 

Nicholas  III,  Pope;  enforces  measures 
of  reconciliation  in  all  Italian  cities, 
213;  progress  of  temporal  power 
of  Papacy  under,  220 

Nicholas  V,  Pope:  accession,  277 

Nicosia:  siege  of,  309 

Niger,  Caius  Pescennius:  proclaimed 
emperor  by  his  troops,  100 

Novara:  siege  of  (1511),  293;  battles  of 
(1522),  301;  (1849),  359 

Noviomagus:  battle  of,  117 


Octavia,  sister  of  Octavius:  death,  42 
Octavius,   Caius :   see  Augustus   Caesar 
Odenathus :    assumes   the    title    of    em- 
peror,   no 
Odessa:  battle  of  (260  a.  d.),  no 
Odoacer:    defeats    Orestes,    151;    reign 

of,  155 
Olybrius,  Flavius  Anicius:  reign  of,  150 
Orcagna,    Andrea:    his    effect    on    the 

Renaissance,    283 
Orestes:   his   influence  in  the  Western 

Empire,  151 
Ostia:  seized  by  Alaric,  141 
Ostrogoths:  see  Goths 
Otho,     Marcus     Salvius,     Emperor     of 

Rome:  sent  to  Lusitania,  63;  plots 

to  obtain  the  throne,  69;  proclaimed 

emperor,  70;  death,  71 


Otho    (I)    the  Great,  Emperor  of  the 

Holy      Roman      Empire:      invades 

Italy,  181 
Otho  III,  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 

Empire:  Italy  under,  183 
Otho  IV,  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman 

Empire:  crowned,  198;  quarrel  with 

the  Pope,  200 
Otho,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  272 
Oudinot:     restores     Pius     IX     to     his 

throne,  368 
Ovid:  exiled,  44 


Padua:  conquered  by  Venice,  250 
Palermo:   siege  of   (i860),  378 
Palestine:    ravaged    by    Roman    forces, 

78 
Palestrina,      Giovanni      Pierluigi      da : 

sketch   of,  414 
Palestro :  battle  of,  373 
Pannonia:  insurrection  of,  44 
Pansa,   Caius   Vibius:   consul-elect,    12; 

death,   13 
Papinian,   yEmilius:    rules   Rome,    101; 

death,   102 
Parini,  Giuseppe:  sketch  of,  339 
Parthamasiris,   king   of   Armenia :    sub- 
mits to  Trajan,  89 
Paul    V,    Pope:     hostility    of,    toward 

Galileo,  321 
Paulinus,    Suetonius :   his   campaigns   in 

Britain,  75 
Pavia:     conquered     by     the     Lombards 

(568  a.  d.),  163;  siege  of,  302 
Pax  Romana:   reigns  over  all  the  em- 
pire, 46 
Pedius,    Quintius:    elected    consul,    14; 

death,  15 
Pellico,  Silvio :  work  of,  409 
Pepe :   heads    Italian   revolution,  352 
Pertinax,  Publius  Helvius:  reign  of,  99 
Peschiera,  Fortress  of:  siege  of,  358 
Peter    III,    King    of    Aragon:    marries 

Constance,  215 
Peter  I,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  272 
Peter  II,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  274 
Petrarch,  Francesco :  sketch  of,  281 
Philibert  II,  Duke  of  Savoy:  reign  of, 

305 
Philip  III,  King  of  France:  at  war  with 
Aragon,  258 


INDEX 


437 


Philip  II,  King  of  Spain:  accession  of, 

307;     aids    Venice    against    Turks, 

309 
Philip  V,  King  of  Spain:  reign  of,  327 
Philip,    Duke    of    Milan:    given    duchy, 

307 
Philip,  Marquis  of  Montferrat :  reign  of, 

275 
Philip  I,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of,  274 
Philippi:  battle  of   (42  B.C.),  18 
Philippus  the  Arabian :  reign,  109 
Piacenza:  internal  strife,  211 
Piccinino,   Nicolas :   leader  of   the   con- 

dottieri,  254 
Piedmont:       invasion      of      Napoleon 

(1796),  342;  revolution  of  the  Car- 
bonari,  354;   arms   against   Austria 

(1859),  372 
Pipin  the   Short,  King  of  the  Franks: 

aids  Pope,  173 
Pipin,  son  of  Charlemagne:  made  King 

of  Italy,  177 
Pisa:  receives  charter,  187;  history  of, 

in  the  Middle  Ages,  225 
Pisano,     Niccola:     father     of     Italian 

sculpture,  284 
Pisani,  Vittor:  defeated  by  the  Genoese, 

239;   at  the  siege  of  Venice,  240 
Piso,      Caius      Calpurnius:      conspires 

against  Nero,  65 
Piso,  Cnaeus  Calpurnius:  career  of,  48 
Piso,    Licinianus:    associated    in    power 

with  Galba,  69 
Pistoja:  rise  of  the  Bianchi  and  Neri, 

212 
Pius   V,   Pope:   aids   Venetians   against 

Turks,  309 
Pius  VI,  Pope:   insulted  by  Napoleon, 

343 
Pius  VII,  Pope:  pontificate  of,  346 
Pius   IX,   Pope:   reforms  of,  357,  361; 

loses  his  temporal  territories,  306 
Pius  X,  Pope:  makes  overtures  to  King 

of  Italy,  405 
Placida,  daughter  of  Theodosius:  mar- 
ries Ataulphus,   145;   marries   Con- 

stantius,    146;    assumes    regency   of 

the  Empire  of  the  West,  147 
Plancus,    Lucius    Munatius :    commands 

troops   in   Farther   Gaul,   12;   made 

consul,  15 
Plautius,  Aulus :  invades  Britain,  59 
Plebiscite  of  i860,  The,  376 


Pliny  the  Younger:  persecutes  the 
Christians,  00 

Po:  battle  of  the,  329 

Podesta:  office  and  duties  of,  210 

Polish   War,   332 

Pollentia:   battle  of,    138 

Pollio,  Caius  Asinius:  commands  troops 
in  Spain,  12;  aids  in  making  a  new 
division  of  territory  among  the  tri- 
umvirs, 20 

Polycletus :  becomes  a  power  in  Rome, 
72 

Pompeii:  destroyed,  83 

Pompeius,  Magnus  Sextus:  his  recall 
proposed,  8;  brings  a  fleet  to  the 
coast  of  Gaul,  n;  makes  a  com- 
pact with  Antonius,  19;  his  alliance 
and  rupture  with  Octavius,  20;  de- 
feat of,  21 

Popes:  rise  of  the  temporal  power  of, 
171 

Poppaea  Sabina,  wife  of  Salvius  Otho: 
intrigues  with  Nero,  63;  marries 
Nero,  64 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  The,  333 

Presburg,  Treaty  of,  347 

Pretextatus,  Vettius:  leader  of  Roman 
sentiment,    131 

Primus  Antonius:  at  battle  of  Bedria- 
cum,  71 

Probus,  Marcus  Aurelius:  reign  of,  111 


Q 


Quadratus:    attempts    to    convert    Ha- 
drian to  Christianity,  92 


R 


Rachis,  King  of  Italy:  reign  of,  172 

Radagaesus :  invades  Italy,   138 

Raphael  Sanctius  (Rafaele  Sanzio)  : 
sketch  of,  209 

Rastadt,  Treaty  of,  330 

Ravenna:   siege  of,   156;   battle  of,  293 

Reggio:  battle  of,  378 

Regnier  of  Anjou:  claims  throne  of 
Naples,  263 

Renaissance,  The  Italian,  279 

Renault:  joins  conspiracy  against  Ven- 
ice, 315 


438 


INDEX 


Ricimer:     expels     Avitus     from    Rome, 

149;  rules  Western  Empire,   150 
Rienzi,    Nicola    di :    leads    revolution    in 

Rome,  222 
Rivoli:   battle   of,  319 
Robert  of  Anjou,  King  of  Naples:  his 

aspirations  for  Italy,  218;  reign  of, 

260 
Robert  Guiscard:  career  of,  185 
Rodwald,  King  of  Italy:  reign  of,  108 
Roger  Guiscard :  conquers  Sicily,  185 
Rollo :   followers  of,  become  Christians, 

185 
Romano,  Alberic  da:  power  of,  203 
Romano,  Eccelin  da:  power  of,  203 
Roman   Republic:    formed,   366 
Rome:    burned,    64;    sacked    by    Goths, 
140;    sacked  by  Genseric,    149;   pil- 
laged by  the  barbarians   (472  a.  d.), 
150;    besieged    by    Frederick    Bar- 
barossa,    194;    revolution   of   Rienzi, 
222;  siege  of   (1527),  304;  siege  of 
(1849),  367;  becomes  the  capital  of 
Italy,  391 
Romulus   Augustulus :   reign  of,   151 
Roncaglia,  Diet  of,   192 
Rosamund,  wife  of  Alboin :  poisons  Al- 

boin,  164 
Rosmini,  Carlo  de' :  work  of,  409 
Rossi,     Count      Pellegrino :       appointed 
president  of  the  Papal  States,  362; 
assassination  of,  364 
Rossini,  Gioacchino  Antonio :  sketch  of, 

415 

Rubatino  Navigation  Company :  cedes 
its  coaling  station  in  the  Bay  of 
Assab  to  the  government,  404 

Rudini,  Antonio  di,  Marquis  of:  suc- 
ceeds Crispi,  404 

Rudolph,  King  of  Burgundy:  conquers 
Savoy,  272 

Rufinus :  proves  a  traitor  to  the  in- 
terest of  Arcadians,  137 

Ryswick,  Treaty  of  (1697),  326 


Sabinus,    Cornelius :    assassinates    Calig- 
ula, 58 
Sacra  di  San  Michele:  battle  of,   174 
Sadoleto,   Cardinal :   labors  for  the  res- 
toration of  letters,  299 


Sadowa :  battle  of,  390 

St.  Annunziata,  Order  of:  founded,  275 

St.  Quentin :  battle  of   (1559),  307 

San  Martino:  battle  of  (1859),  2>72 

Saracens :  invade   Italy,   179 

Sarpi,  Paolo :  attempts  to  bring  about 
a   reformation   in   Venice,   314 

Saturninus,  Claudius  Sentius :  his  cam- 
paign in  Gaul,  44 

Saturninus,  Lucius  Antonius :  rebellion 
of,  84 

Savonarola,    Girolamo :    sketch    of,    282 

Savoy,  House  of:  history  of,  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  272 

Scala,  Mastino  della :  Venice  joins 
Florence  against,  249 

Scapula,  Ostorius :  his  campaign  in 
Britain,  59 

Scarlatti,  Alexander:   sketch  of,  414 

Scribonia,  wife  of  Octavius :  marriage, 
20 

Sejanus,  ^Elius:  influence  over  Ti- 
berius, 50;  death,  52 

Seleucia :  destroyed,  89 

Selim  II,  Emperor:  at  war  with  Ven- 
ice, 309 

Seneca,  Lucius  Annaeus :  charged  with 
education  of  Nero,  62;  retires 
from  court,  64;  joins  conspiracy 
against  Nero,  65 

Severus,  Flavins  Valerius:  becomes 
Caesar  for  Constantius,  116 

Severus,    Libius :    reign   of,    149 

Severus,  Lucius  Septimius :  reign,  100 ; 
death,    101 

Severus,  Marcus  Aurelius  Alexander : 
reign  of,  105 

Sforza,  Altendolo :  leader  of  the  con- 
dottieri,  253 

Sforza,  Francesco :  leader  of  the  con- 
dottieri.  254 

Sforza,   Galeazzo :   career  of,   265 

Sforza,  Galeazzo  Maria,  Duke  of  Milan : 
reign  of,  289 

Sforza,  Gian  Galeazzo  Maria,  Duke  of 
Milan :  reign  of,  289 

Sforza,  Ludovico,  surnamed  the  Moor 
(II  Moro)  :  usurps  duchy  of  Milan, 
265,  271 ;  attempts  to  gain  the 
throne  of  Milan,  289 

Sforza,  Maximilian,  Duke  of  Milan: 
drives  French  out  of  Lombardy, 
293 


INDEX 


439 


Sicilian  Vespers,   257 
Sicily :    united   with    Aragon,   263 ;    con- 
dition under  Spanish  rule,  323;  re- 
volts  against   the    King   of   Naples, 
353;    insurrection    in    (i860),    377; 
condition    under    the    kingdom     of 
Italy,  400 
Siena :   siege  and   fall  of,  307 
Silanus,  Marcus  Junius :  death  of,  56 
Siscia:  battle  of  (389  a.  d.),  135 
Sixtus  V,  Pope :  pontificate  of,  313 
Sixtus  VI,   Pope :   contention   with   Lo- 
renzo de'  Medici,  268 
Solaro,     Count :     at     siege     of     Turin 

(1704),  328 
Solferino:  battle  of   (1859),  373 
Sosius    (consul    32    b.  c.)  :    nominee    of 

Antonius,  24 
Spain :  receives  the  Latin  rights,  81 ; 
overrun  by  barbarians,  139;  Goths 
found  kingdom  in,  145 ;  leads 
movement  to  restore  Pius  IX  to 
the  Pontifical  throne,  367 
Spauro,  Count :  aids  Pius  IX  to  escape 

from  Rome,  365 
Spurinna :    attempts   to   warn    Caesar,   5 
Staff arde:  battle  of  (1690),  326 
Stephanus :   assassinates   Domitian,  85 
Stephen    II,    Pope:    makes    treaty    with 

Astolphus,  172 
Stilicho:  career  of,  137;  death,  139 
Strozzi :  defends  Siena,  307 
Succession,  War  of  Austrian,  333 
Succession,   War   of   Spanish,   327 
Symmachus :    leader    of    Roman    senti- 
ment, 131 


Tacitus,  Marcus  Claudius :  reign  of, 
in 

Tagliacozzo:  battle  of,  215 

Tartaglia  of  Brescia :  revives  the  mathe- 
matical  sciences,   296 

Tasso,  Torquato :  sketch  of,  320 

Teias :  elected  king,  161 

Tertullus :  made  consul,  141 

Theodatus :   reign  of,    159 

Theodolinda,  daughter  of  Garibaldus, 
Duke  of  Bavaria :  marries  Au- 
thoris,  166;  chooses  Agilulph  as 
ruler  of  Italy,  167;  rules  Italy,   168 


Theodora,  the  Elder:  her  influence  over 
the  Papacy,   182 

Theodoric  the  Great :  invasion  of,  155 ; 
death  of,  157 

Theodosius  (I)  the  Great,  Emperor  of 
the  East :  placed  on  the  throne  of 
Constantinople,   133 

Theodosius  II,  Emperor  of  the  East: 
recognizes  Valentinian  III  as  Em- 
peror of  the  West,  147 

Thomas  I,  Count  of  Savoy:  reign  of, 
273 

Tiberius  (I)  Claudius  Nero  Caesar:  in- 
vades Armenia,  39 ;  sketch  of,  41 ; 
campaigns  of,  in  Gaul,  42;  dis- 
graced, 43 ;  adopted  by  Augustus 
as  his  son,  43 ;  celebrates  his  tri- 
umph over  the  Pannonians,  45 ; 
reign  of,  46;   death,  54 

Tiberius  Gemellus :  sketch  of,  53 ;  death 
of,  56 

Tiltoni,  Minister :  ably  manages  for- 
eign  relations,   406 

Titus  Flavius  Sabinus  Vespasianus:  ap- 
pointed consul,  74 

Titus :  besieges  Jerusalem,  79 ;  reign  of, 
82 

Tommaso :   illustrious   scholar,  299 

Torre,  Baron  della :  reestablishes  regal 
power  in   Turin,   356 

Torre,  Martin  della:  chief  of  Milan, 
217 

Tortona :  surrenders  to  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa,   192 

Totila:  reign  of,  160 

Trajan  (Marcus  Ulpius  Trajanus)  : 
adopted  by  Nerva,  87;  reign  of, 
87;  death,  89 

Trebonius,  Caius  :  plots  against  Caesar,  4 

Trent,  Council  of,  285 

Triumvirate,  The  Second,  10 

Trivulzio,  Giovanni :  leads  French 
forces   into   Italy,   293 

Turin:  battle  of  (312  a.  d.).  118;  sieges 
of  (1640),  323,  (1704)  327;  revolu- 
tion of  the  Carbonari,  354 

Turin,   Peace  of,  241 

Tuscany:   republic  declared,  366 

U 

Uberti,  Farinata  degl' :  saves  Florence 
from  destruction,  212 


440 


INDEX 


Ugolino,  Count  of  the  Gherardesca: 
treachery  and  fate  of,  236 

Ulm:  battle  of,  347 

Ulphilas  (Ulfilas,  Wulfila)  :  missionary 
to  the  Goths,  136 

Urban  V,  Pope:  preaches  crusade 
against  the  Turks,  276 

Urban  VI,  Pope:  sanctions  dethrone- 
ment of  Joanna  of  Naples,  261 

Uscocchi:  attack  Venice,  314 


Valens,  Fabius:  supports  claims  of 
Vitellius,  71 

Valens,  Roman  and  Byzantine  Em- 
peror: reign  of,  130;  death  of,  133 

Valentinian  I  (Flavius  Valentinianus)  : 
reign  of,  130 

Valentinian  II :  associated  with  Gratian 
in  the  Empire,  133 

Valentinian  III  (Flavius  Placidus  Val- 
entinianus) :  birth,  146;  accession 
of,  147 

Valerian  (Publius  Aurelius  Licinius 
Valerianus)  :  reign  of,  no 

Varus,  Quintilius :  defeat  of,  44 

Venice:  founded,  148;  sketch,  177;  his- 
tory in  the  Middle  Ages,  238; 
acquisition  of  territory,  292;  at- 
tempted reformation  of  Sarpi,  314; 
fall  of  her  power,  330;  surrender 
to  Napoleon,  344;  part  of  Italian 
kingdom,  390 

Venice,  League  of:   formed,  290 

Veniero,  Sebastiano :  leader  of  expedi- 
tion against  Turks,  310;  elected 
Doge  of  Venice,  311 

Ventidius  Bassus,  Publius :  his  cam- 
paign against  the  Parthians,  19 

Verdun,  Treaty  of,  179 

Verona:    battles    of    (249    A.  D.)>    109; 

(312    A.  D.),     Il8;     (403    A.  D.),     138; 

(489  A.  d.),  156;  conquered  by  Ven- 
ice, 250 

Verrua:  siege  of,  327 

Verus,  Caius  Commodus:  associated 
with  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  93 

Verus  Caesar,  Lucius  jEHus:  adoption 
by  Antoninus,  93 ;  raised  to  the  pur- 
ple, 96;  death,  97 

Vespasian   (Titus  Flavius  Sabinus  Ves- 


pasianus)  :  his  campaign  in  Britain, 
59;  proclaimed  imperator,  72;  his 
early  campaigns  in  the  East,  78; 
reign  of,  81 ;   death,  82 

Vesuvius:  eruptions  of  (79  a.  d.),  83; 
(1906)   406 

Vetranio:   proclaimed  emperor,   124 

Victor  Amadeus  I,  King  of  Sardinia 
(II,  Duke  of  Savoy)  :  reign  of, 
326 

Victor  Amadeus  I,  Duke  of  Savoy: 
reign  of,  319 

Victor  Emmanuel  I,  King  of  Sardinia: 
abdicates,  355 

Victor  Emmanuel  II,  King  of  Italy: 
accession  to  Sardinian  throne,  359; 
accession  to  Italian  throne,  376; 
accession  to  throne  of  the  Two  Sici- 
lies,  384 

Victor  Emmanuel  III,  King  of  Italy: 
reign  of,  397,  405 

Victorinus,  Marcus  Piavvonius:  con- 
version of,  128 

Vienna,   Congress   of,   350 

Villafranca:  battles  of  (1515),  294; 
(1866),  390 

Villafranca,    Armistice    of:     concluded, 

374 
Vindex,  Caius  Julius:  conspires  against 

Nero,  67 
Virginius :    conspires    against    Nero,   67 
Visconti,  House  of:  power  of,  218 
Visconti,     Matteo:     becomes     chief     of 

Milan,  217 
Visigoths :   see  Goths 
Vitellius,  Aulus :  becomes  emperor,  71 ; 

death,  74 
Vitiges:  reign  of,  159 
Volta    of    Como,     Count     Alessandro : 

sketch  of,  339 


W,  X,  Y 

Wallia:  rules  the  Gothic  kingdom,   146 
Waldenses:   persecutions  of,  317 
Walter  de  Brienne:  given  military  com- 
mand in  Florence,  229 
Waterloo:  battle  of,  350 
Wenceslaus,     Emperor     of     the     Holy 
Roman   Empire:    creates    duchy   of 
Milan,  219 
White  Company:  in  Italian  wars,  253 


INDEX 


441 


William  the  Bad,  King  of  Sicily:  reign 

of,  196 
William  the  Good,  King  of  Sicily:  reign 

of,  196 
William,    Marquis   of    Montferrat:   war 

with  Amadeus  V  of  Savoy,  274 


Zacharias,    Pope:    reproves   Rachis,    172 
Zanardelli,    Giuseppe:    ministry   of,   405 


Zeno,  Emperor  of  the  East:  gives  Theo- 
doric   permission   to   conquer   Italy, 

155 

Zeno,  Carlo :  comes  to  the  relief  of  Ven- 
ice, 241 

Zenobia,  Queen  of  Palmyra:  captured 
by  Aurelian,  111 

Zisca,  John:  instructs  Bohemians  in  the 
art  of  war,  256 

Zurich,  Peace  of,  374 


